Book Two: Victory For Loss
by Aneera
Summary: With a raging battle with Irk inevitable, Zim must pull himself together and work with people he once sought to destroy. But as they get an edge, Tallest Red begins to play with Zim's mind. Secrets that have been kept hidden from the brainwashed Irkens are put into light. But once Red is cast into the shadows by the new Tallest, he becomes a deadly puppeteer.
1. Mr Mopey

Dib was pacing around his room with his hands behind his back, muttering to himself every now and again about aliens and how much he hated most of them. It had been eight days since Zim, Aneera and Noah had been hauled away by the Irken soldiers and ever since then Dib and Gaz had been on edge.

Dib had refused completely to go to school even when his father had said they all just had a bad dream, the nerve. How could he not see it? The proof was right in front of him! Dib had also been reluctant to speak with his Prof. Membrane after the break in, he wouldn't listen anyway.

Dib heaved a sigh and plopped himself on his bed to rest his legs, he had been walking around in circles for two and a half hours straight. He also glanced at the clock every so often out of habit now, hoping by some miracle they would return. Gaz said he was an idiot for believing such things and that he should just get over it.

"DIB!" Gaz's annoyed voice echoed off the walls of the entire house, through every nook and cranny. Dib flinched as always and stood back up, ignoring the pain in his legs, and trudged sluggishly down the steps. He saw Gaz in the kitchen setting two small plates on the little round table, followed by a large box of pizza, figures.

Gaz called out her brother's name again and this time he had to plug his ears, she was only about ten feet away from him. "Gaz! I'm right here!" he called over her screach, catching her attention.

"It's time for dinner." She gave him no apology what so ever and sat down in front of the pizza box with her GS7 in hand. Dib only sighed and glared at the pizza, this was the fifth night in a row they had pizza and he was tired of it, but there was nothing else to eat because their father was never home to cook or take them out anywhere.

"Again? Sigh, when are we gonna have something _other_ than cold pizza?" The boy sat in his chair but only starred at his sister for a reply, which he didn't get.

"Do I look like a chef to you?" she snapped coldly, paying no attention to her brother's attitude. He sighed again and took a slice of cheese covered junk food out of the box and remained silent while he ate. Gaz only paused every few seconds to take a bite while she continued to play her favorite game.

Once Dib was finished he got out of the chair and walked over to the sink, gently laid the plate on the moutain of dishes and made his way towards the couch. Dib only made it about seven steps before the door bell rang, his face instantly lit up with hope.

He ran the rest of the way and yanked to door open, praying to God that it would be Zim or one of the other two. Sadly it was only the mail man with a box for the professor, who wasn't here. Dib's happiness was gone as quickly as it came and he took the box without a word.

"Who was it?" Gaz called from the kitchen, still munching on her half eaten slice of pizza. Dib dropped the box down with a purposefully loud 'thud', not wanting to say anything. She only grunted in response and when back to her previous business.

Dib walked in front of the TV and sat down on the couch, burying his face in one of the overly soft pillows. This had more or less been his routine for the past six days and everyday Gaz wouldn't care about his feelings or how he acted, so he was left to be by himself. Today, however, Gaz suddenly did care.

"Will you stop moping!? It's driving me insane!" She was now standing next him with a cross look on her face as she spoke, but Dib didn't answer or even aknowledge her presence. "I'm talkin' to you!" This time bent over and yelled in his ear to get his attention.

He shot up quickly and covered his left ear with one hand and propped himself up with his right. "No, I wont stop moping! Not until they come back!" His face was once again met with the pillow and he was quiet.

"Dib, how many times do I have to tell you!? They aren't coming back!" Gaz had now shut off her game and was glaring daggers into Dib.

"You don't know that!" His voice was muffled but clearly audible enough for Gaz to hear. She looked away and sighed quietly, really not wanting to have this conversation.

"Dib," Her voice was quieter now but still just as violent. "They're probably dead right now, they didn't have a chance against those people, you need to let them go." Dib now slowly lifted his head up to face his sister with tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Don't say that! They can't be gone! They just can't!" His voice was close to breaking and his eyes were a glossy amber color. Gaz continued to look away while she spoke.

"There are no such things as miracles Dib! There is no more hope! It's been eight days! They are not coming back no matter how much you want them to!" Gaz was close to tears as well, not usual for someone like her at all. Dib took this into consideration and made his voice more calm.

"Why not? They don't need a miracle, I know they can get out!" Dib knew Zim almost as well as Aneera did, he never gave up no matter what, who's to say he wont come back now?

"Fine, believe whatever you want." Gaz turned on her game once more and headed upstairs to her room while Dib laid down on the couch for the rest of the evening.

* * *

The next day at school Dib moped just like any other day, it was becoming routine and by now nobody cared anymore. The only day people cared was the first day because people thought he was getting weirder, if that was even possible. But by the third he was just part of the background again, never saying anything much, not paying attention to his teachers and surely not caring about what others said behind his back.

They didn't know anything, they didn't know that Earth was truley in danger for once, they didn't know that the only people who could help were either uncarring or captured, they just didn't get it.

All through first and second period Dib remained quiet and kept his mouth shut, there was never anything for him to say so he didn't speak. By the end of third period he was close to falling asleep until one girl piped up and appeared in front of him.

"What's the matter Mr. Mopey?" Dib didn't bother to look up, he knew who it was, Kairi, probably the most caring person in the entire school, if she could even be labeled as caring. She asked him this question every day and never got an answer, Dib refused to talk about it in public. But instead of giving his usual answer of "Nothing," he ignored her and continued moping.

The bell rang and Dib hastily stood up and gathered his books, not even remembering Kairi as he strode out the door and towards the lunchroom. He walked quickly and quietly while paying no mind to the onlookers he passed. He could see the double doors up ahead and he braced himself for what was coming, it happened every day.

Once the doors were open his eyes unwillingly darted towards Zim's table and he chocked on his out breath. For an instant he saw a vision out of his mind of Zim, sitting alone by himself and smilling at him, this always made Dib want to break down and sob, no matter who was looking. Though as quickly as the vision appeared it was gone and he made his way over to his usual table next to his sister.

"Hey Gaz." he greeted dully, like every other day she grunted in response but otherwise ignored him. Dib didn't eat today, he wasn't very hungry, the pain was more upon him today than usual, he wouldn't be able to stomach the already grotesque food. So instead he brought out a binder from his messenger bag and began to study for his math test next period.

He hadn't really been paying much attention to what he was supposedly reading and for good reason too, Kairi was starring at him. He couldn't possibly guess what she wanted but knew any minute now she was bound to come over and address him.

"Hey Mr. Mopey, ready to tell me what your problem is?" Her voice was almost concerned but the hint of teasing made him annoyed. He only shook his head and continued to study. "Hey, I've noticed that Zim's been out for a while, where is he?" Dib was turning a page but stopped half way, that was the first time someone had confronted him about Zim, now it hurt more than ever.

"I don't know." He closed his binder and put it away, keeping his eyes away from Kairi the whole time he did so. He was surprised that he even had the strength to answer her with words, that was new.

"Oh, okay. Have you tried calling him or-" She cut herself off as Dib dropped his head on the table with a 'thud' and groaned. He pulled the collar of his trench coat half way over his head and hid himself from view. Kairi caught on somewhat and realized that Zim was a touchy subject, but pressed on anyway. "What happened to him?" she asked, tugging lightly at the scythe lock on the top of his head.

"Go away." He swatted away her hand and felt to make sure she hadn't pulled his hair out. She scowled and stood up, walking around the table to stand behind Dib. She put her arms around him and began to pull him up off the table, though not getting hardly anywhere.

"Sigh, oh my gosh, Dib! What is your problem!?" She dropped her arms and folded them across het chest, she was annoyed now, that wasn't good. He didn't hardly notice as he continued to mope and sigh.

"He's all depressed because his "best friend' left, I personally think it's because he liked Zim... a lot." Gaz snickered at her disturbing thought, it annoyed Dib greatly when she said that.

"Gaz!" He sat up and glared at his sister, how could she think such a thing? Zim was married! Gaz only glared back and promptly shut him up.

The bell then rang and everyone began to file out of the cafeteria and trudge towards their next classes. Dib was among this large group of unhappy students, blending so much in to the crowd that you didn't hardly know he was there.

* * *

Dib was walking home by himself just like every other day, no one to bother him, no one to interrupt his thoughts. He was usually left alone now, only every once in a while did someone bother to call him crazy or insult him. He was almost happy for that, but it was only because Zim had left and he wasn't nearly as talkative anymore, so they didn't have anything to call him out on.

He slowly approached his front door and looked at for about two minutes before heaving a sigh and turning the doorknob. Once again the house was empty and he was the only one who was home, it was routine after all. Even the sound his boots made when he walked upstairs was the same, life didn't have anything to it anymore.

Today, however, he decided to do something different, though he knew it wouldn't take him mind off of his friends at least he wouldn't be cooped up inside his house all day. As he reached his room he could see through his window that Gaz was just now getting home. He threw down whatever he was carrying and leaned against his door frame, his gut feeling was acting up again and it made him feel sick.

"DIB!" Gaz called from the bottom of the stairs, making Dib jump about five feet into the air. He hated it when Gaz called his name out that loud, he was perfectly capable of hearing.

"Up here!" he shouted, glaring in her general direction. She didn't respond to that, their conversation, if it was one at all, was over. Dib sighed and shook his head, there was just no getting used to this. So to take his mind off things he dug around in his messenger bag for his homework, which was math, and took out his binder. Once he gathered up his things he told Gaz that he was going out.

She was currently sitting on the couch playing her game, only grunting out a 'uh' as Dib headed out the door. After that she no longer cared as to where he went or what he did, why should she?

As Dib was walking towards his destination he grew more and more unsure about what he was doing. What if he wasn't there? What if... what if he just left because he couldn't cope with the sadness?

When Dib turned the corner he stopped and stared at the house with a sickness growing in his gut, maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. Dib shook his head, this was going to help his depression, he would be more accepting of that fact if he just faced it head on. So without another thought he began walking towards the house.

"He better be home." he muttered under his breath, still not quite getting out of the habit of talking to himself yet.

Nothing had changed about the house, except for the fact that it was more empty than it used to be. Dib didn't come around here anymore, not like he used to anyways. Sometimes he would steal a quick peek as he walked home from school but never did he really look at it, or even think of going anywhere near it. But today he was going to go inside and do his homework, that was his plan.

Dib slowly walked up to the front door and stared at it for a moment, he felt sick and in pain, but that didn't stop him. He reached out his hand and turned the doorknob until it clicked and opened.

That's when he saw Gir.

* * *

Aneera: IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK!! Those two weeks were TORTURE!

Zim: Sigh, I'm back, I know, It's amazing.

Aneera: Yeah, so like always I love those reviews, they make me happy!

Zim: Ugh, I really don't want to be here.

Aneera: Don't worry, it'll get better!

Zim: Really!?

Aneera: No.


	2. They Didn't Need A Miracle

Gir was sitting on the floor looking at the blank TV screen, he looked almost dead, except his lights were glowing that bright cyan blue. It was sad though, he was just starring at it, sitting there, doing nothing, and it was creepy. He didn't move, he didn't speak, he didn't even seem to be "there" really, like his mind was somewhere else, like a deadpan stare.

Dib walked in and silently shut the door behind him, he didn't want to frighten the little thing, he was probably mortified already. Dib just stood where he was and looked at Gir, he didn't seem to notice his presence, like Dib wasn't even there. He just continued to do absolutely nothing.

"Gir?" Nothing happened, Gir didn't move at the sound of Dib's voice, it was scary almost. So Dib walke dover to him and sat down, putting his free hand on the robot's shoulder.

"They aren't coming back are they? I's is gonna be aaaallllll alone wont I?" Gir's sudden interest in speech made Dib jerk his hand back, but once he finished Dib felt bad again, his gut hurt real bad.

"No, they're coming back, the have to." At this point Dib wasn't talking to anyone but the air around him though the statement was directed at Gir. By this time Minimoose had wondered in and almost died at the sight of a visitor, no matter who it was.

"SQUEAK!" The little moose rushed over and rammed into Dib real hard, knocking him over onto his back. Dib didn't really know much about Minimoose, except for the fact that he couldn't talk and he was basically what his name called for, a miniature moose.

"Uh, hi?" Dib wasn't sure as to what to say, honestly, what do you say to 'squeek'? So Dib just greeted him and patted the top of his head a couple of times before picking him up and placing him in the air away from him.

"Wow, we actually got a visitor, that's actually kind of amazing." The body-less sound came from what seemed like everywhere, the boy had forgotten about the computer entirely.

"Yeah, heh, I guess."

* * *

Dib spent the next four hours doing his homework and playing with the machines that had bodies, though the computer was quite the know it all, there wasn't much that he didn't know, Dib had fun quizzing him. He did get his homework done and part of a History project completed so he had some free time. At one point it was almost like he was enjoying himself but he knew he wasn't, he just wasn't as depressed.

Soon, however, it was nine at night and he was debating on whether he should go home or he should just spend the night here, though the chances of having nightmares was high. Eventually he decided that he didn't want to go home to a virtually empty house so he situated himself on the couch and fell silent.

Minimoose was laying on top of his head while snuggled into his thick black hair, he was comfortable enough. Gir on the other hand was curled up underneath Dib's trench coat and treated it like a blanket, it worked... to some extent.

It wasn't before long that all goodnight's were said and everyone was asleep. But right before Dib fell to the other side he had this feeling that something was going to happen tomorrow, something... good.

Though of course it was just his gut feeling acting up again he still thought it to be true, good things happen to those who wait, or something along those lines.

Though tonight, Dib didn't have a nightmare, he had a peaceful dream.

* * *

There was faint sound coming from upstairs, way upstairs. It was the sound of machinery moving, like something was opening. It woke everyone in the house except for Dib, the computer was on stand by. So naturally whoever was up was curious, this didn't usually happen.

Gir and Minimoose quietly got off the couch without disturbing Dib and walked upstairs to the middle of the landing where the secret lift was. Gir pressed his hand to the wall and a crease began to form. It then pushed itself in and slid out of view, letting the two enter the lift and ride it to the roof.

As soon as the wall piece slid back in place Dib woke up and yawned, noticing that he was by himself. It didn't take long before his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he was able to see the house clearly, it was kind of creepy. He decided that since he really should be going he might as well leave while he was up.

Once he gathered up any loose or scattered papers he made his way towards the door with his binder and didn't realize what he was missing.

* * *

Gir and Minimoose were stuck in that slow, hardly moving and cramped elevator for about five minutes, five very uncomfortable and very nerve wracking minutes. The noise was getting louder and louder by the second, though it seemed like it shouldn't have been.

Finally it stopped and the door opened to let the two off in the main level of the roof. It was the same as it had always been, a landing pad for the voot, about a dozen high energy lights and loads of wires. However, this time there was something extra, something else was there.

Gir couldn't believe his eyes, it couldn't be real, it was impossible, how? Minimoose was thinking the same thing, how could this have happened? There was no chance, no hope. And yet, there it was, right in front of them, Zim's voot cruiser. Just the same way it always looked when it came home from a mission, beaten up, scratched and slightly dented here and there.

Even the computer seemed to be amazed, he started to comment on something but stopped in the middle of his sentence, appearently unable to finish. It was a miriacle... no, it was just luck, they didn't need a miracle.

The three of them waited for something to happen, anything to prove their hopes true, anything at all. They waited for another moment or so but still all remained silent and unmoving, maybe something went wrong? Maybe they really didn't make it and the voot was using it's homing device? Maybe... That thought was stopped, they just had to be alive!

Gir took a step forward and then it happened, the voot's bubble raised up and there they stood, the three of them, still alive and... almost well.

"Master?" Gir asked in a broken but cheerful voice, could this really be true? Could this really be happening? Gir knew that strange and unimaginable things have happened before but this just seemed too good to be true.

Zim smiled and slowly stepped out of his cruiser, kneeling down with his arms outstretched. Gir instantly knew it was real, the emotions that he was feeling were too genuine for this to be a dream. He ran across the metal flooring, his feet making a loud 'clank' with every step he took. Once he was about two feet away from Zim his lunged for him and cried,

"MASTER!" upon reaching Zim's arms. He wound his own metal arms around his Master's neck and held him there, not daring to let go, no matter what. Zim only smiled that much more, now having to prop himself up with one arm since Gir had knocked him over onto his butt again.

Minimoose then realized that he hadn't moved at all, he changed that. He floated over as quickly as he could to Zim and Gir, letting out a loud "NYA!" in his joy. Zim was practically attacked by him too, though he was smaller and it didn't hurt quite as much.

All the while this was going on both Noah and Aneera were watching from the floor in front of the voot, Noah giving the two plenty of room between them. They giggled and laughed as Zim got beaten to a pulp by happiness and drowned by joy, it was good though.

"Okay, okay! Guys, come on! You're suffocating me! I can't breathe!" His voice was filled with laughter as he tried his best to pry the two off, but to no prevail. So Aneera had to step in and help, not getting much farther either.

"Seriously! Off!" Aneera had her hands on Gir and was pulling him off Zim, literally trying to make herself fall down and bring Gir with her. Though, that didn't happen, she just ended up falling on top of him, making the weight on Zim much worse.

"Oof! Ow! Guys, come on! I think you're breaking something!" Zim was now whining, not really something he did normally but he was rather annoyed, but only slightly. After all, they just got home and the two were excited, what'd you expect?

"Gir!" Noah called from his spot on the floor, instantly getting his attention. Gir looked up and smiled, jumping off Zim in his anxious state. He ran the whole was towards the younger Master and then jumped on him.

"Other Master!" Gir screamed upon contact of the now unsure Irken. Instead of thinking "At least Dad's okay" he was thinking "Why did I do that? Dad would have survived with a couple of broken bones!", sweet huh? Though it was too late and now he was the one that couldn't breathe, why couldn't it have been Minimoose?

"Aaaahhhhh!! Get off!" Noah was now clawing at the floor trying to get out from under the robot that was attatched to him, on top of him. In Noah's desperate attempt at freedom he failed to notice that Zim had walked over and detatched Gir from his back, but he continued to scream.

After a minute of the others quietly laughing at him Noah suddenly realized what he was doing, making a fool of himself, he was screaming 'help' for no reason and didn't know it. He stopped and sat up, looked around and sighed a breathe of relief, though still feeling quite embarrassed.

"Are you done yet?" Zim crossed his arms and smiled, letting up the tension enough for Noah to stand himself up. He smiled sheepishly, inching around them to run towards bed. As he sprinted off he yelled a 'goodnight' to them and disappeared into the lift.

"Master, guess what? Da big head boy came taday! He was all sad and mopey like!" Gir clapped his hands and giggled, Zim only caught the first half of what he said, the rest of it just went in one antennae and out the other.

"When!?" Zim held Gir out at arms length to get a better look at him.

"A couples a hours ago, why?" Gir shrugged, he was never really good with time, mostly because he never really paid attention much. Zim dropped the robot on the floor and left Aneera with the two, leaving the same way Noah had.

"I guess as that old saying goes, like father like son." Aneera shook her head and motioned for the other two to follow as she too, went to bed.

* * *

Dib didn't do much the next day, it was a Sunday, a lazy day. The last Sunday all he did was sit around and watch TV, hoping for a miracle, like a knock on the door or something. Unfortunately that didn't happen so this time he figured he'd actually do something.

He was currently walking down his street, just going for a stroll around the neighborhood, what was there to do besides pray every five minutes? Well he did do that but quietly in his head so people wouldn't think he was even more crazy then they gave him credit for. Although, that was becoming less of a problem, ever since they had been caught Dib didn't really talk much so they called him depressed, but he was.

Dib had left early that morning and had been walking around aimlessly for about five hours now and his feet hurt, really badly. So he had just turned around to go home, he must have walked every street in the city but he didn't care, there was nothing else for him to do.

As he passed a few select places small memories flooded back to him. When he passed by the graveyard he remembered how Zim was throwing mutant vermin into people's houses. As he passed an open area with a single building taking up only half the space, the Crazy House For Boys, he remembered that one Halloween when they both got trapped within his head, that thought made him shudder.

Dib sighed upon the recall of each memory and soon decided to head home, this wasn't doing him much good anyway. So, with a loud huff, Dib turned at the next corner he came upon and began the long, most likely boring, trudge back to his dull gray house.

He was lucky that it only took him about twenty minutes to return home, his feet were killing him and he thought Gaz might just yell his ear off if he were any later. As he walked inside he noticed that Gaz was starring at the TV with a faint smile on her lips, something must have happened while he was away.

"Gaz? Are you feeling okay? You look... happy." Dib stood behind her while she continued to sit on the couch quietly. Dib waited a moment but still she remained silent. "Come on Gaz, what happened?"

It was then that Gaz stood up, shaking her head as she did so, and smiled the whole time she walked upstairs and into her room. Dib just watched his scary sister disappear into her bedroom, what could have possibly caused her to smile?

Dib decided that he didn't feel like knocking on her door and almost dying today so he didn't ask, he'd do that tomorrow.

* * *

"DIB! Come on! We're gonna be late!" This fine particular morning Dib had woken up ten minutes late and now he was rushing to get himself ready, today was _not_his day. As Dib called to his sister to be patient he finished packing and gathered up his stuff, quickly making his way down the stairs.

"I'm coming!" For some reason Gaz was very pushy today, it was almost like she actually _wanted_to go to school today, weird. And she was smiling again! What was wrong with her!? Dib just couldn't figure it out, last night, this morning! What had gotten into her?

"Will you hurry up!" She yelled as Dib leaped off of the second to last step of the staircase. That's when Dib realized something, they weren't late, school didn't start for another half hour and it took them ten minutes to walk there!

"Wait a minute, we're not gonna be late! Why do you want to get there so early?" Dib purposefully stopped in the door frame, making Gaz hiss under her breath and grab his sleeve, she was meaner today too.

"I just don't want to be stuck in that house with you anymore." Upon saying that Gaz's mysterious smile returned, she must have been lying, there was no other option.

"Will you please tell me what's going on!?" Dib yelled, yanking his arm free of her grip. Gaz just gazed back at her brother, she still looked menacing but didn't scare Dib, he'd seen that look too many times to be afraid of it. So instead Gaz just frowned and walked off, not caring if Dib followed or not.

The rest of the walk was silent, Gaz felt no need for a conversation and Dib was afraid to talk to her, he almost riped his arm off when he yanked it free. So the only thing they could hear was the early morning breeze that greeted them each day, only it was colder and gustier since they were so early. Finlay, after what seemed like hours of deafening silence the skool was visible, making Dib start his moping routine.

As the two walked closer to the all too familiar building Dib thought he saw something, a flash of, pink? He glanced over and saw Gaz's smile grow wider.

* * *

Aneera: Sorry, I just love to keep you guys guessin'!

Zim: Why are you making these chapters longer?

Aneera: 'Cause more stuff is gonna happen in this book.

Zim: Oh, that's comforting to know... I'm scared now...

Aneera: Good, you should be!


	3. Happiness Is A Wonderful Thing

Dib thought he was seeing things, pink, of all the colors he had to see, pink! Was it Valentine's Day already!? The horror, wait, it was no where _near_ Valentine's Day, it was like, two weeks until Christmas! So if he should be seeing colors it should be red and green! Wait, green? Oh, there was that sick feeling again, another day of them being gone.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Dib instantly snapped out of his thoughts to find Gaz glaring at him venomously, now that scared him. He instinctively took a small step back and swallowed hard, it creeped Gaz out whenever Dib spaced out and she told him not to do it.

"Y-yeah?" The word came out as a stammer and his hands started shaking, however, Gaz made no move to hurt him, odd. She waited for a moment before finding the right words to say.

"Do you think you could not mope today?" she said rather dully instead of darkly, that too, was unusual. Dib decided that it wasn't worth asking so he nodded and stalked into the building through the front doors with Gaz on his heels.

* * *

The bell rang and a mob of kids came rushing into the halls, quickly crouding just about every available space there was. Kids got pushed into walls and lockers, some tripped over others and some got squeezed into a group of kids and almost turned blue.

Dib was barely able to pull off a snicker as his usual mopey feeling tried to dominate every other feeling he had. Though Gaz had asked him almost nicely for once so he figured it might be worth a try, besides, by now they probably weren't coming back and he might as well try living a normal life. He waited until a few kids ran into his classroom before joining the the crowd so as not to be seen, it was better that way, to him at least.

Once he was shoved inside he noticed Mrs. Bitters sitting at her desk with the same annoyed expression on her face, that almost made Dib smile, almost. He took his seat and slid down so that he wasn't sitting straight, more slouching and mope-ish like.

_Today,_ he thought, _it's most likely going to be a very boring day, that is, unless Gaz tells me why she's in such a good mood._

A few minutes later the tardy bell rang and another hoard of kids made it in just as the last bell rang through the halls. Dib sighed to himself, apparently they weren't going to be here today, just like the last nine days.

"Alright class," Mrs. Bitter's voice was full of hatred as always. "We will be learning about how our president is running our entire society down into the ground!" After that the word 'doomed' was recited over and over and over again, typical. So once again the class didn't pay any attention.

Dib slowly blinked his eyes and sighed again, how he ever survived through each skool year was a mystery even to him. He was about to rest his head on his desk and go to sleep when the teacher starting screaming at something, the phone.

"NOOOOO! Nooooooooo! GRRRRR! But I don't want them! Send to the other classroom! Mines full! NO! Grrrrrrrr, fine!" With that last comment she slammed down the phone with a loud cracking noise and the entire room was silent.

Dib honestly didn't care about any new students or whatever was happening so he let his head fall onto his desk, not really a bright idea, it hurt. With a slight groan Dib sat back up, he was now certain that the top half of his head would be purple for the rest of the day, how lovely. He then heard footsteps in the hallway and turned his attention towards the door, this just may prove to be interesting.

Though as the foot steps grew nearer he grew less bored, they sounded hurried and he didn't recall when a new student was _ever_ excited to get to this classroom. Soon the doorknob turned and the door opened, he thought he was going to die.

Okay sure, everyone in the entire skool said that he was a fool for believing it but no longer could they call him that, they were right there in front of him. It was a sight to see, he felt so happy he might as well scream! They were actually there! Ha ha!

"Sorry we're late!" Zim, happy as ever, smiled and slid into his seat next to Dib, making the poor boy's face hurt he was smiling so much.

"Yeah, we kind of got caught up at the front desk." And of course, Aneera, still looking just as beautiful as the day Dib last saw her. She too, gave Dib a small wave and smile, taking her spot on the other side of him.

Dib just sat and smiled at this whole situation, he was so happy right and now he could scream it to the world! The people who everyone said weren't coming back were there, still very much alive.

"Glad you're back guys, I'll give you a proper hello after school." Dib smiled and sat back up straight in his seat so his back didn't have to suffer anymore.

Mrs. Bitters, however, didn't like the two to begin with, this whole situation was disgusting to her, the one student who she hated more than anything was back, Zim. Sure, he was annoying when he was little but now he was a trouble maker, and a brutal one at that, she knew of the rumors and local school ghosts.

She audibaly hissed under her breath before she spoke. "Now class, instead we will be learning about global warming and how there is absolutely nothing we can do to save ourselves!" Just like old times the single worded lecture started and she had no attention directed towards her at all.

Dib turned to Zim but saw that he was having a silent conversation with the girl on Dib's left, he could wait. Though he decided to quietly listen, he couldn't understand what they were saying because he know a whole lot of Irkenese, he only knew a little, courtesy of Zim's slip of the tongue more than once.

Then, "Whatever happened to that tablet thingy Zeira gave you?" Aneera leaned forwards to see his expression, Zim was all confused.

"Who?... Oh, that one girl. I don't know, I think it's still in the cruiser." Then he turned his attention to the wall in front of him to think quietly. Dib figured he wouldn't bother him, Zim was most likely completely spaced out by now anyways.

"Hey Aneera, what exactly happened while you were up on the Massive?" Aneera looked up and bit her lower lip, she wasn't sure if this was an appropriate topic to discuss in school but no one was listening so why not?

"Well, they tortured us, screwed up the rest of our lives and held us captive while starving us." She smiled as if it were all a joke and leaned forwards again to see if Zim was okay.

"You aren't gonna tell me the details are you?" Dib replied knowingly, at least they wouldn't in school, he figured he'd visit after for a couple of hours.

Aneera continued to stare at Zim with a weird look on her face, he was mumbling to himself but nobody could understand what he was saying. They were debating whether he could hear himself or not, it was hard to tell.

Well, whatever had gone on at least they were back and safe, as far as Dib knew anyway. By this point Dib didn't care what happened to him, he figured once they got out some sort of a war was gonna happen and he was with them every step of the way.

* * *

The bell rang for the end of school and the school was emptied within minutes, kids used any door and window available for escape from their daily attended insane asylum. It was amazing how much people could hate something.

Dib wanted to wait for his sister but being half a demon she was probably already home as far as he was concerned, oh well. So he just coped with walking with his two best friends over to their house for, lack of better words, story time.

"Okay, so where's our proper hello-?" Zim was cut short as Dib threw one arm around his neck and his other around Aneera's.

"I can't believe you guys are back! I knew you could escape and no one else would believe me but that's okay because now you're here and I'm just so happy I think I'm gonna explode!" He spoke really fast and it was difficult to understand, the only thing Zim caught was the end about exploding and Aneera heard everything but it didn't make any sense.

Though after a minute they didn't care about what he said, they just wanted to be able to breathe again. Zim had to gently, yet forcedly, unwrap Dib's arm from around his neck.

"We missed you too, please don't suffocate us okay?" Zim smiled and leaned his head away from him. Dib was speachless with happiness he could only nod and smile back. He stuck to walking closer than usual and propping up both of his arms on each of their shoulders.

They all enjoyed the silence and walked with syncnorized steps the whole way to the house. The only sound was the slight breeze rustling the leaves in nearby trees and the faint brushing noise as they walked.

Dib smiled real wide once the turned the corner and the odd green house was visible about one hundred yards away. They each quickened their pace and before long they were half jogging and half running towards the house. They reached the door fairly quickly and slowed enough so nobody smacked face-first into it.

Zim smiled at Dib and motioned towards the door. "Would you like to do the the honor?" Why he was asking this was a mystery to both of them but hey, who cared? Dib nodded and reached for the door and opened it, lightly pushing it forward and letting it swing the rest of the way open.

Aneera walked in and noticed that the television was blaring, she winced at how loud it was. Zim followed Dib in and shut the door loudly, hoping that Noah would hear it.

Speaking of who was currently sitting on the couch with his arm extended out to the TV with the remote in hand and bored as ever. Though he was still considered a smeet he didn't really act like one, more of a seven year old. He did hear the door slam and instantly knew what they wanted so he lazily turned the volume down but otherwise didn't move.

"Hello." Zim said uninthusiastically, snatching the remote out of Noah's little and with a smirk, though he wasn't bothered.

"That's okay, there's never anything good on TV anyways." Noah then yawned and fell sideways on the couch, noticing Dib and giving him a small wave that was happily returned along with a smile.

Dib took a seat next to the little Irken's head and watched as Gir squealed with delight upon being granted privilege over the remote. He instantly took full advantage of this moment and turned on his favorite show, the Scary Monkey Show. How anybody was able to watch it was a mystery in itself.

Zim suddenly perked up and mumbled something to the rest of them but they didn't hear him. He dashed up the stairs and entered the lift in the wall, disappearing within seconds. Everyone else stayed oblivious to the fact that he had left.

"So, how old is he exactly?" Dib looked down at the the little Irken next to him, wondering what the difference between Irken years and human years was.

"Well, let's see, he was born on August fourth so in human standards he's about five months but in Irken standards he's about three years, give or take a couple of days." Aneera was lightly tugging at one of his antennas so he kindly got up and moved to the other side of Dib, he still didn't like being so close to her and his facial expression showed it, he was a bit freaked at her touching him.

"Is he okay?" Why would he be so repelled from his own mother? He had a strange feeling that he didn't want to know.

"He's still scared of me, he didn't quite know about... well, you know." Aneera glanced at Noah while he cowered behind Dib while his shaky hands gripped the front of his shirt to hold himself up right.

"No I don't think I do... wait, you mean the whole dragon thing?" Why would Noah be scared of her for that? Well, she was kinda of monstrous looking.

Zim then came down from the ceiling with the tablet tucked under one arm and a curious look on his face as he eyed the thing. Apparently he hadn't read it yet

"Oh good, you found it!" Aneera smiled and waited for him to cross the landing, he came down the steps rather quickly and in no time flat was standing right in front of her with a smile.

"Yeah, now let's see what's on it." Noah's head shot up and his eyes grew real wide, he never told Zim what was on it and if he found out what Noah had been keeping from him he wont be too happy.

Zim turned the tablet on and waited for it to load, almost like a computer but not quite. Once it was done the main screen came on and there was only one file on it. "Odd, that's the only thing on there." Zim raised a finger and touched the folder icon labeled 'T.T.F.T.', how strange.

"What is it?" Aneera asked upon seeing what popped up, a picture of Tallest Teal and the name of someone else next to him with a single line conecting the two.

"I'm not sure." Zim mumbled, mostly to himself, then finding the scroll bars, one on the side and one on the bottom. He also noticed that the line that went straight down was colored gold instead of white, obviously indicating the direct bloodline.

Then Aneera seemed to see something and pointed to it before Zim got carried away with this sort of information. "Look, it's a note from Zeira." There was a short note at the top of the page that read:

_Zim,_

_Me and Purple thought you ought to know this little fact about yourself, it's pretty interesting and shocking. Follow the gold line in the middle, that's the direct bloodline and as you know, those Irkens have the most honor. But follow it all the way down to the bottom._

_-Zeira_

Zim followed the simple instructions but took his time, he wanted to know who was related to this guy. Out of the many names on the line he only knew one but not personally. He was almost bored when he finally reached the bottom.

"Oh my..." Aneera raised a hand up to her mouth and gasped.

The small tablet fell out of Zim's hands and clattered to the floor, his eyes were huge and his gazed seemed far away, and distant. It was also noted that his skin turned pale and he didn't breathe for a long moment, he probably forgot how to.

Noah saw how his dad was taking this so he stood up and climbed over Dib, making his way over to him. Zim didn't notice as Noah put his hands on his arm and shook him a little.

After another second or so a small visible smirk tugged at his lips.

* * *

Aneera: Ha wow, now what's gonna happen? O.o By the way, T.T.F.T. stands for Tallest Teal's Family Tree.

Zim: I'm still so happy I can't hardly speak right.

Aneera: Cool, then maybe you wont talk at all.

Zim: Hey!

Aneera: What?

Zim: Never mind, I don't feel like getting hurt today.


	4. Bitten

Could this really be happening to him, could he really be related to the greatest Tallest who ever lived? That would change everything, if the people knew then he would hold respect to his name, no longer would they treat him with disdain and think of him as just another defect with no significance. He would have hope and pride, he would be able to get Red to bow to him even.

But if this was all just a dream, he would still be the most hated and loathed person on his planet. He would still be famous but for the wrong reasons, because he destroyed one of the most important events in history and not because he did something right or actually meant something.

But how could this be a dream? He had held the written information in his hand only a moment ago, it couldn't be an image of his subconscious, it wouldn't do that to him, Steve would kick it's butt.

_Wow, me, related to Almighty Tallest Teal! __**Yeah, that's amazing, good for you!**__ And little Noah too, maybe we still do have a chance.__** Speaking of which, you still need to convince the rest of the world that you're an alien. **__Oh yeah..._

The smile spread until his teeth were showing and his cheeks hurt, a true genuine smile, only very rarely did it make it's appearance now. For the next couple of seconds he wasn't aware of the other four figures next to him, he was lost in his dreams.

When he still didn't return to reality Aneera reached out a hand and shook his arm a little to see if he would snap out of it. When she pulled away he sat up straight and chuckled lightly to himself, either he was just as astonished as she was or he just officially went insane.

Noah looked up and felt so horrible for not telling him earlier, but at least Zim didn't _seem_upset, that was a good sign. So to test his theory he slowly climbed into his father's lap and watched for any reaction that might tell him to back off. Fortunately Zim just looked down and smiled even more, if that was possible, and held Noah as close to him as he could.

So far no one had said anything about what just happened, but then again, Dib and Gaz didn't know what the big deal was so they couldn't really be counted. They just continued to sit quietly and watch while whatever was happening was over.

"Zim?" Aneera was barely able to choke out his name with the strange felling that caught in her throat and made her speechless. She didn't know what to feel at the moment, happiness or fear. Sure, she _should_ feel happy but what if Red found out, would that cause him to take unnecessary steps to kill them?

And then another thought popped into her head, if her parents weren't related to Tallest Teal then did that mean...? How many lies had the Tallest been telling them? What exactly were they keeping from them?

Right then Zim looked up at her, causing whatever she had been thinking to disappear completely and left her confused. He noticed the expressionless look on her face and pulled one hand away from Noah and set it on her shoulder, perhaps she still hadn't been able to take it all in yet?

"Is she okay?" Dib peered over Zim to see what could be wrong with her, to Zim this was obviously good news but is there some reason why she shouldn't be so happy?

"She looks broken." Gaz stated as if it was plain and simple. So maybe she wasn't exactly the queen of sensitivity but she was pretty smart. Aneera instantly scowled and glared at Gaz from behind Zim. Gaz only snickered and continued to play her game that she had pulled out moments ago.

"Broken!?" She now sounded mortified that someone could even think about insulting her like that, no matter who it was it ticked her off more than anything.

"Excuse my miscalculation, I guess you were malfunctioning." That did it, if it weren't for Zim Aneera would have launched herself at Gaz and started biting and scratching, unfortunately she didn't get that chance.

Zim turned around and glared at Gaz. "A little less of the insults would be much appreciated." he hissed, doing his best to keep Aneera at bay, she was growling and snapping her teeth in a warning to let Gaz know that next time she might not be so lucky.

"So what happened?" Dib said, so far he had been the quietest. Zim, who had Aneera by her wrists, let go with one hand and picked up the tablet, letting Dib take it and see what was with everyone.

Noah crawled out from underneath his mother and clung to Dib for protection, not really caring that they didn't know each other very well. Dib looked down and shook his head, if Aneera kept this up Noah would never get used to her again.

After a minute of exploring what there was to see Dib still didn't get it, so Zim was directly related to a Tallest, what was the big deal about it? "I don't understand, what's so great about him?"

The whole room seemed to stand still while his question lingered in the now dense air, the feeling didn't settle well with him. Zim was about to open his mouth to answer but first he had to get his still rabid wife off of him. He pushed on her and did his best to sit up but she was still trying to get at Gaz, so he just told Dib to click on his picture for a bio.

"Okay, I have a question. What happens now? I mean, you guys are back and all so that obviously means someone has had to have noticed by now. Are they still gonna blow up the Earth?" The length of Gaz's sentence was enough to render Zim speechless momentarily, that was almost impressive.

"Um, well, yeah. I mean, they're gonna try. A friend of mine disabled the bomb and they probably still haven't noticed yet so that bought us some time. I just need to figure out how to- NO! DOWN! Anyways, we'll need more than us three to convince your dad of the fact that we're aliens." He had to shout at Aneera for almost phasing, but that wouldn't be helpful, with Noah and all.

"Did I seriously make her that mad?" Gaz glanced up from her game and looked disbelievingly over at Zim who only nodded and continued trying to shove off the girl.

"She gets sensitive when people refer to her um... how to put this gently... well to the fact that she's different." Zim had word his explanation carefully because Aneera was literally on top of him and he was vulnerable.

Aneera hissed and glared daggers at Gaz who either didn't notice or didn't care enough to say anything.

"You're referring to the fact that she's a defect aren't you?" Gaz said dully, more of a statement than a question. Zim let out a strained 'Yeah' and almost got to wheezing point.

Aneera began snapping at her and her eyes started turning maroon, though she was careful not to loose control and risk crushing Zim completely and scaring Noah past the point of no return. Though now her head was lowered a bit so she couldn't move so much. Then she took another snap at the air in Gaz's direction, this time Zim had no choice but to act, though he really didn't want to.

Against his better judgement and all the screaming Steve was doing he turned his head and nicked the end of her antennae, though he bit her harder than he originally planned. She, of course being in a lot of pain, jerked back and put both hands around the end where she'd been bitten, not at all happy about what he'd done to her, it hurt.

Gaz almost busted out laughing at her pain but figured that it might not be the best thing in the world to do, so she kept quiet. Dib leaned away from Zim for a second, he couldn't believe what he just saw, so she was mad, did he really have to bite her?

Upon retreating to the opposite end of the couch Aneera was whimpering at the pain that had been bestowed upon her. She didn't dare to take her hands away. If looks could kill Zim would have been killed about ten times over, he just might have made her even more angry but at least she wasn't really bothering anyone or smothering him anymore.

"Well we should go, dad is coming home." Gaz stood up and began walking towards the door.

"You know how long he's gonna be in for?" Zim was now able to sit up and watch as Dib got up too, being sure to return the tablet to him, and follow his sister.

"A month at the most, why?" Dib eyed him with suspicion.

"I'll need to recruit about ten more people so he'll believe us, we don't have a whole lot of time before we're being attacked from the safety of our own homes." There was just enough sarcasm in Zim's words to let Dib know that they should be fine.

"'Kay, I'll see you later then." With one last smile the two left the house and the door closed shut behind them. Zim turned to Aneera and sighed, this was going to be fun. Noah knew what was coming so he quickly ran upstairs and into Zim's room to wait out the fight that was sure to spring up.

She took no hesitation in hissing at him with a sure fire warning to keep his distance if he wanted to stay in one piece. Zim paid her notice no attention and stood up so he could walk over to her and try his best to calm her down. Though, the closer he got the louder she hissed at him, maybe he hurt a _lot_ more than he wanted to.

"Back off." Her voice was dark and pained, but Zim acted as if he didn't hear her and held out a hand, that might not have been a very good idea. She looked down at it and wanted to bite him back so bad at the moment, but at the same time she didn't want to hurt him.

Zim sighed and dropped his hand, then began to turn around like he was going to leave. Once he was sure she wasn't quite so tense he turned back around and practically sat on her, rendering her helpless.

"Calm down, I just want to see how bad I hurt you." It was hard for him to say the last couple of words but not too horribly bad. Still, when he reached out to stroke her antennae she leaned away and hissed again, not entirely trusting him. But because he was sitting on her he was able to restrain her and see what the damage was.

Indeed he'd done much more damage than intended, now he felt extremely bad about biting her but it couldn't be helped now. Instead of just a warning nibble he had nicked her and she was bleeding, he felt sick. Thankfully it wasn't too bad and would be healed by tomorrow morning.

That's when Gir decided to make his appearence and came bounding in the room, distracting Zim momentarily. Aneera took this opportunity and shoved Zim off of her and onto the floor, who landed with a muffled 'thud'.

"Ow! What was that for!?" Zim looked up and his expression became of hurt and he lowered his antennae, trying to make Aneera feel guilty. Unfortunately she wasn't that stupid, therefore not falling for it.

Instead of answering Aneera curled herself into a ball and glared at him, it was going to be a while before she let him anywhere near her again, which will most likely be by tomorrow. Sure, to humans it may seem that she was over reacting, but to Irkens that would have been a serious offence to someone.

To Irkens, letting someone anywhere near your antennae was a show of trust. An Irken's antennae are extremely sensitive to a lot of things such as sound, movement and smell, as Irkens do not have noses. They're also very emotionally "aware" so to speak, for instance, if one was agitated, anxious or somewhat angry their antennae may slightly twitch. If one was happy, excited or had been aware of sudden movement their antennae would raise slightly. And finally, if one was sad, angry or was in pain they would lower their antennae.

So, in the long run, Zim was screwed for the rest of the day. Completely, totally and utterly screwed. Aneera had probably set a five foot radius personal space bubble around herself and if a certain someone happened to invade that space bubble she would hurt him severely.

Though Aneera was aware that the amount of pressure he bit her with was more than intended, she knew she was over reacting and that he was only trying to keep Gaz alive. Though, she couldn't help but feel hurt that he would do such a thing, pain intended or not.

Zim slowly stood up, noticing how she watched his every movement when he moved. It unnerved him greatly when she watched him so closely like that, it made him feel like he had done something wrong, but in this case he probably did. In fact, he did a lot of things wrong.

"Hey Master!? Where's mini Master?" Gir smiled happily at his nickname for Noah, as he never remembered his real name. It was sad actually, Gir could remember a lot of things, usually unimportant things, but he couldn't even remember his Master's own son's name, pathetic.

"Up in my room probably... No, you are not allowed up there." Zim knew why Gir asked, he wanted to annoy Noah, something that he knew Zim didn't allow. Gir pouted and hung his head, about to leave when he noticed Aneera and her bad mood.

"Pretty Lady? What's da matter?" Gir sat himself on the floor ad looked at her with his stupid expression. She didn't answer, she didn't even look at the robot. Gir continued to stare at her until he got bored and stood up. "Why is you's so sad?"

"Don't want to talk about it." She then closed her eyes and waited out the rest of the day on the couch.

* * *

Zim woke up in the middle of the night around two in the morning, he was tired and wanted to go back to sleep but it seemed as though the gates to darkness had closed in his face. So he sat up and yawned, then noticing that he didn't have a blanket anymore and he was slightly cold.

"What the?" He began to look all over he room but couldn't exactly find where it had gone. He sighed and was going to go to his closet and get another one when he noticed it was on the floor, being occupied by a very small certain someone.

Noah rolled over and yawned, though still very much into the intense dream he was having. Zim made sure to be careful as he stood up so that he didn't step on Noah and wake him up. He then bent over and picked up the smeet and held him for a moment, blanket and all. Zim couldn't help but smile at how his antennae twitched while he slept, it was so cute.

Eventually Zim had to set him on the bed and give him a kiss goodnight before leaving his bedroom. He closed the door quietly and walked to the other side of the landing to Aneera's room, he still felt bad about what he did and felt that he needed to do something. So he reached his hand out and slowly opened her door.

She too, was fast asleep, wrapped up in a thick blanket to keep herself warm, though still shivering. It wasn't that her room was cold, it was because she was used to being warmer and now all she had was a blanket, she was used to having Zim sleep with her and he was warm.

Speaking of whom, he had walked over and was now standing in front of her, watching her as she twitched and her teeth chattered. Zim sighed and a smile began to play on his lips, he was hoping that she wouldn't kill him in the morning. He silently and swiftly climbed over her and laid down, placing a hand around her to warm her up some. He then noticed that her left antennae, the one he had bitten, was twitching but it was more of a jerky movement. His gut churned, he felt so guilty about it. Trying to ease his own pain he leaned forward and gently pulled it into his mouth, maybe that would make it better.

_**I told you not to do it stupid. **__Shut up, I feel bad enough already thank you! __**Well! If you would have listened maybe she wouldn't be so mad at you! **__Honestly! Does it ever stop!? __**Fine! Be that way! **__I will! __**Good! **__........ Sorry. __**Yeah me too. Goodnight. **__'Night._

Aneera: Cool! Another chapter done!

Zim: Yay!

Aneera: ... Are you okay?

Zim: No!

Aneera: You're scaring me.

Zim: GOOD!

* * *


	5. Cat Fight

Aneera woke up rather late the next morning, she must have gone to bed later than she thought. It took her a minute or two to sit up and stretch her arms, she was stiff and sore from so much sleep. She yawned loudly and noticed that something was missing, her left antennae didn't hurt this morning, how odd.

It must have been about eleven because she could hear Gir screaming downstairs with the TV blaring. Zim must be up by now, there was no way he could sleep through all of that noise.

Aneera slowly dragged herself off the bed and stood up with some extra effort, she wasn't normally a morning person but for some reason she felt happy. She wasn't sure why so, with uneven steps and some time, she made her way out of her bedroom and stopped at the top of the staircase. She could see Zim sitting on the couch with Noah in his lap while Gir sat too close to the TV watching some old time cartoon.

Zim looked up but didn't smile, he just waited as his wife slowly came down the stairs and crossed the room in about two minutes. She stopped in front of him and smiled, Noah stiffened and held his breath while she was so close. He almost ran away she bent over and gave Zim a small kiss under his jaw, Noah leaned away and carefully watched her.

"I'm sorry." Zim looked up and watched her expression, just because she was okay to kiss him didn't mean that she wasn't still mad at him, he was hoping that she wasn't.

"I know, I forgive you." She then smiled and sat down next to him, this completely freaked out Noah, but he didn't move.

Noah held Zim's hand real tight to silently show him that he was _not_comfortable with this. Zim looked down and sighed, this was taking longer than he thought. Aneera looked down too and realized what the problem was, she was too close.

Originally Zim thought this would be over within only a couple of days, he must not have realized just how much Noah was afraid of his own mother, this was starting to get out of hand.

Aneera was about to get up and move but Zim held out his hand and kept her in place, but tightened his other arm around Noah to keep him still too. If there was one way to solve this problem it was to keep the two as close as possible without one screaming his full head off while the other was so close.

Aneera looked at Zim like he had lost his ever lovin' mind, what was he doing? It was bad enough that Noah was scared of her but for him to be that close, he'd never get over it.

Zim knew what she was thinking. "He'll be fine." Though it was a whisper Noah could hear him loud and clear, instantly thinking that he was _not_ going to be fine at all.

"If you say so." She rolled her eyes and sat still, trying not to make any sudden movements as she could clearly see Noah shaking like a leaf less than two feet away.

"Oh, by the way, I called some people this morning to see if they could come down and help out, I got a lots of people!" Zim smiled, he was greatly pleased with himself.

"Oh? Who's coming?" Aneera had almost forgotten about Noah and was curious about who was going to actually show up and show themselves to the world.

"Let's see, Zink and Tiz are coming, of course. I actually got Purple to come too, um, Skoodge and Kairi. Who else? Uh, Zeira... Oh! I got Tex to come too! And uhm... One more... Oh yeah, Tak's coming too." Zim turned his head a little at the mention at Tak's name.

"Tak? You got _Tak _to come? Wow, that's pretty impressive." Aneera was quite surprised, Tak wasn't exactly the 'social' type, especially not when it came to humans.

"Yeah... It wasn't easy either..." Zim started to flush, in order to get her to come he had to do something he really didn't want to do.

"I don't want to know how you did so please don't tell me." Aneera didn't have to imagine much, she noticed that Tak kind of had a thing for Zim, so she'd rather not know.

"Thank you." Zim breathed a sigh of relief, if she found out than she might hurt him. Thankfully she didn't want to know so he didn't have to risk that.

"When are they going to be here?" By now neither one of them was aware that Noah was even there, but he didn't really mind so much, he figured that they would have forgotten about him so he wasn't quite as stressed out.

"Um, well a few are in the area, I think that Kairi, Skoodge and Tak are going to be here by... this afternoon." Zim cringed at was surely to be an outburst.

"Oh," Aneera didn't mind that Skoodge and Kairi were going to be there but her and Tak did _not_get along well, there was sure to be a cat fight some time during her stay. How lovely, two girls fighting over the same guy when one girl is already married to him, that should be fun.

* * *

It was around five in the afternoon and Aneera was getting a gut feeling that they were going to be there soon and just the thought of having Tak anywhere near Zim unnerved her greatly.

She knew Kairi very well and she was not one for guys, actually, she wasn't a defect so she couldn't love but she could care, so Aneera didn't have worry about her. Aneera, however, didn't really know Skoodge, though him and Zim seemed to be good friends so she was okay. But Tak, she was defective and could love, and unfortunately had the hots for Zim.

Aneera was busy watching TV to take her mind off things while Zim and Noah were watching for anybody in the labs. Her attention quickly shifted to the floor when she heard the lift getting close to the main floor, they must be here.

Zim emerged with Noah at his side and sighed, looking at Aneera with pleading eyes, hoping that she wouldn't do anything that she'd regret. Once he was sure she got the message he walked over to the door and waited for someone to knock. He wasn't waiting for very long before he could open the door, he was surprised that all three of them were there.

Of course he didn't expect that Skoodge would be a whole lot taller, which he wasn't, but he had lost some weight, that was news. Poor Skoodge had a hard time in training because he was overweight but he looked only half that now.

Kairi hadn't really changed much either, excpet she was taller, but still only came up to the middle of Zim's torso. He was just hoping that her attitude had changed some.

And then there was Tak, still dressed in the same uniform she wore that last time he saw her, but it had been modified to fit her better since she was now as tall as Aneera, that could pose to be a problem.

"Hey guys!" Zim said with a smile, already regretting this, oh well, too late now. He moved to the side and motioned for them to come inside, which they did with gratitude.

Aneera looked over and smiled at Keiri and Skoodge, but just glared at Tak, this was going to be hell, she would probably start counting every time she had to bite the purple-eyed girl for hitting on Zim, oh joy.

"Wow, I'm so envious." Kairi stepped aside and sat down next to her now much-taller-than-her friend, grinning. "Heard about what happened, never thought you two would... you know. So anyways, what's up?"

Aneera continued to glare at Tak with hatred, Kairi instantly got the hint and started laughing. "It's not funny, if she goes anywhere near him she'll pay."

Kairi stopped laughing and sighed with a giggle, shaking her head from side to side. "Zim can fend for himself, don't worry."

"I know, but if it gets too out of hand I might have to go all kung fu dragon on her and Noah's already scared of me." Aneera turned her attention again but to Noah this time, who was talking to Skoodge.

"Is he really? Poor thing, I can't imagine how you feel." Kairi sighed again and watched with Aneera while Zim went over important details about how this was going to play out.

"Kairi, you didn't hear a word I said did you?" Zim turned to face her, not wanting to go over the routine again.

"Huh? Oh, yeah I gotcha!" She smiled real wide and waved for no apparent reason, probably just to let them know that she really did hear him. Zim shook his head and dismissed them to check something in the labs, giving a warning look at Aneera.

Noah was now freaked, Zim was gone and the only other person he knew that was in the room was his mom, this was not going to end well. He just stuck close to Skoodge and didn't say much. Though he did notice the cross look that his mom had when the taller Irken walked over to her, Tak was her name as he recalled.

"Well look who it is, it's the freak." Tak smiled and folded her arms, Aneera was not in the mood to deal with her and her insults or that fact that she liked her husband.

"Ha, looks who's talkin'." Aneera didn't bother to look at her, what was the point? It would give her the satisfaction that she wanted. So she just kept her focus on the TV instead.

"Oh please, don't even get me started, I've been saving up the insults just for you." Tak grinned and put her hands on her hips, just thinking about them made her want to laugh.

"Okay, let's get something straight here. If you so much as even _touch_my husband or my son I'll kill you, got it?" Aneera had to look at Tak for that one, it wouldn't have worked without eye contact. But knowing that Tak didn't really care because Zim would save her from Aneera's wrath it didn't do as much as she would have liked it to.

"Ooooooh, I'm so scared. What are you gonna do? Bite me? Burn me? Claw me to death? _Eat_me?" Tak had already figured out that Noah was scared of Aneera and she knew why, so if she could scare him beyond all hope, well maybe she'd get a go at Aneera.

"Shut up!" Aneera was now on her feet with her fists clenched, she hadn't been there for ten minutes and her butt was gonna get kicked already. Though Tak wasn't scared, all she had to do was scream and Zim would come to her rescue.

"Hahahahahaha! Yeah, come on! Turn why don't you? Show us all who you really are, a hybrid, a nobody, a freak!" Tak was getting way too close to the line.

"I swear if you don't shut your mouth and leave well enough alone you'll be sorry." By now her eyes were that deep maroon color again and Noah was backing behind Skoodge for protection.

"You know what I don't get? How in the world Zim could possibly love you, I mean, he probably can't even kiss you with your kind of temper." Tak began to scoff at the other Irken, who was fuming by the way. "Even your own child doesn't want to have anything to do with you!"

Noah's head turned up, so he was nervous around his mother, that didn't give anybody a right to talk to her about it like that! He was about to go and tell Tak to back off but figured that it would be safer to stay away.

"I feel bad for Zim you know, he would've been much happier with me instead, probably much safer too. I wouldn't be surprised if he loved me more than you." Tak smiled at the furious Aneera in front of her, she was right on the line, one more word could put her over it.

Noah had had all he could take, he could stand people talking about him but if they started talking smack about his parent's relationship he had to step in. He took about two steps and looked up at Tak and was about to open his mouth but didn't get that far before Skoodge took the liberty of jerking him out of the way as Aneera crouched to lunge at the female in front of her.

"See, I don't get how people can live with you, you nearly attacked your own son." That did it, Aneera had officially had enough of Tak and a split second before she sprang a whistle rang through the house, making both of them cringe.

"Hey! Knock it off!" Zim emerged from the labs and scowled at the both of them, being careful as he approached. "Look, I know that you two don't get along and I know why but if you're gonna be going at each others throats than I'm gonna have to separate you two."

"She started it." Tak said quietly, though everyone could clearly hear it. Noah, being one of them, yelled a "Nuh uh! You did!" and then shut his mouth.

"I don't care who started it!" He then turned to Tak and continued. "If you don't watch your mouth I wont hesitate to lock you up in the prison chamber."

Tak smiled childishly and giggled, obviously not taking him seriously. But honestly, what could he do? Nothing!

Zim then turned to Aneera and sighed, how to put this gently? He walked over to her and began whispering to her so that only she could hear, wrapping his arms around her to calm her some. Once he was done she gave Tak one more hateful glare before disappearing into her room, away from everybody else.

"Woo wee, that was some cat fight ya missed!" Kairi had hid behind Skoodge while the two girls were insulting each other. Though Kairi thought it was funny she did feel bad for Aneera, Tak could be an ungrateful person sometimes.

"Yeah, Tak was really saying things she shouldn't have been saying." The only reason Skoodge could say this was because Tak had moved into the kitchen to watch Gir while he was busy cooking. "She really crossed the line."

"Do I even want to know what she said?" Zim rolled his eyes in frustration, maybe inviting Tak wasn't the best of ideas, but they needed all the help they could get after all.

"She started messin' around in places she should have left alone! One thing she said, quote on quote, was 'You know what I don't get? How in the world Zim could possibly love you, I mean, he probably can't even kiss you with your kind of temper.' And that's not all she said either! She also started sayin' stuff like 'I don't get how people can live with you' and 'I wouldn't be surprised if he loved me more than you.' I can't believe her!" Kairi had her fists clenched now. When she would quote Tak she would use a brat-ish voice for emphasis.

Zim sighed and looked at the ceiling as if silently asking it for answers on what to do. There had to be some way around this, there was no way he could cope with it for more than two days.

"What am I gonna do?" That was all he said, he had to get away from Tak before he hurt her, so he picked up Noah, said where he'd be should one need him and headed up the stairs into his bedroom. Knowing how sensitive Aneera was about their relationship he figured he should give her some time to calm down before confronting her about anything Tak had said.

There was no telling how this was going to plan out, but one thing was for sure, one would get severely injured at some point in time.

* * *

Aneera: Why that no good, ungrateful little-!

Zim: Wow, you two really hate each other huh?

Tak: You have no idea! But like I said, it's amazing she hasn't killed anybody yet. She's just so unstable, like she's insane!

Zim: Now wait just a minute! I don't care who you are or where you're from but nobody! And I mean _no_body talks to my wife like that!

Aneera: ......... I knew it....

Zim: YOU NEVER HEARD THAT!!!


	6. Calmness Is A Virtue I Think

The rest of that day was as peaceful as it could possibly be, Skoodge and Noah got along pretty well, Kairi went upstairs to talk with Aneera and Tak stayed downstairs with Zim, though never talking to him.

She knew what she had done would make him upset, but she just couldn't be too far away from him if she knew he was within a ten light-year radius. Being that as it may she did well to keep her mouth shut around him, one teeny tiny word could set him off. So Tak just sat about two feet away from him and didn't say anything unless directly addressed, which didn't happen much.

Zim, to say the very least, was not happy with Tak at the moment so he made no move to interact wih her at all. He knew very well that the two did not get along and he was willing to take that risk to save the planet, he just wish there was some way around all of the fighting that was sure to take place.

Both of their thoughts were cut short by the sound of a door upstairs opening and closing, either someone had entered or someone had exited. Zim was the only one to look up, Kairi was now walking down the stairs and making her way towards him, her expression was a little off.

Kairi quickly approached him and said, "She wants you." Then Kairi made room as he stood up and watched him walk away, that's when Tak looked up. Kairi noted the mischievous look on her face and said "Don't _even_think about it." and walked off to find SKoodge who was in the labs. She hadn't seen him since the little fight that had happened earlier and Noah wasn't anywhere to be seen either.

Zim had swiftly ran up the stair case, hardly ever touching the steps at all, and stopped momentarily in front of Aneera's door. He was hesitant about opening her door, he hadn't talked to her about what had been said and she may still be a little touchy, but maybe that's why she wanted him there, just so she didn't feel so awful. He reached his hand out and quietly opened the door, peering inside as it swung open.

She was laying on her side with one arm under the pillow, though she wasn't crying she still seemed to be upset. Her cheeks were stained with shiny streaks of liquid and her eyes were glossy from the moisture. Zim could even make out the large damp areas on her pillow, indicating where she had cried.

Zim slowly made his way over to her, trying not to make any sudden movements. As he approached she didn't turn her head or say anything to acknowledge his presence, but only continued to stare at the wall she was turned to. Once Zim reached her bedside he sat down next to her and laid a hand on her shoulder.

This was when Aneera turned her head and gazed at him, her eyes seeming to sparkle from the lamp next to her. She couldn't bare to say anything unless she wanted to make a fool of herself and start screaming unholy curses at the other female, something Zim had never seen her do before. Though her eyes were filled with hurt and sorrow there was a faint, barely noticeable trace of hatred buried deep within her stare.

Zim sighed and broke the silence, obviously she wasn't going to. "Kairi told me some of the things Tak said, but I'm sure there's more. You don't have to tell me but if there was something that really bothered I'm here to listen." He stopped there, not wanting to put too much pressure on her when she was already feeling horrible.

Tak had only said two things that bothered her more than anything, when she had gone into the fact that Noah was afraid of her, she didn't need reminding. But the other thing that bothered her was when she was listing off all of the things she could do to hurt someone, mentally noting that Noah was within hearing range.

Aneera was hoping that if she told Zim what had been said he might do something horrible to Tak, that was sure to break her spirit. So, with a quiet voice she spoke. "When I made the first threat she began to act sarcastic and asked what I was going to do to her." She paused, not knowing if she could bare to go on, already a lump was forming within her throat.

"Oh, and what did she say then?" Zim waited for Aneera to compose her thoughts, he was aware that talking about it was painful so he just sat where he was a quietly waited.

Aneera knew she would begin crying... _again_if she said what Tak had suggested... eating her... She shook the thought away and just did her best to blurt it out and be done with it. "She asked if I was going to eat her!" Well at least she said it, but she didn't like it.

Zim had to pause for a moment, he just couldn't quite grasp why in the world Tak would say something like that, unless... "Was Noah there when she said it?"

Of course her face was buried in the pillow, so she just replied with a nod and left it at that. Maybe Zim would be mad enough to go and yell at Tak, meaning that he would leave the room, she needed a moment... alone.

As expected Zim had gone from confused to extremely ticked off in a very short period of time, it wasn't two seconds later that he got off the bed and the sound of her door opening and closing echoed through the house again, only this time it was a little louder. Aneera couldn't help but sit up to see if he had left, sighing when she confirmed the room to be empty.

Zim quickly but quietly ran down the stairs and across the room so he could stand in front of Tak and glare at her. She happened to notice him as he approached but made a mental note of the upset expression.

When Zim had finally gotten right in front of her she looked up and smiled, probably acting as if she had no idea of what was going on. Though, after about five seconds she was fed up with the silence and finally said, "Well? What do you want?"

Zim scowled at her for about two more seconds before he told her why he was so upset. "You asked if she was going to _eat_you!?" Zim then folded his arms to show that he did not approve.

Tak's smiled faded and she sighed, hadn't this conversation been over a while ago? "And?" Well at least she admitted to it. Zim still refused to say anything so Tak continued for him. "Okay okay! I admit it! I knew the little monster was there! Big whoop!"

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Zim had to raise his voice a little bit, obviously she didn't seem to care, so if he yelled at her maybe she'd listen.

Tak only stared blankly up at him while he continued to scowl at her, sure she knew that Noah was afraid of his own mother but she didn't have to admit _that_. After all, it took very careful observation to figure that one out, noticing how Aneera stayed well away from him.

Zim sighed and decided to drop it, it wasn't getting him anywhere anyways. "Where is he?"

Tak automatically pointed to the floor and then ignored him from that point on, that conversation was over. She quietly watched as Zim disappeared into his labs, still looking very much upset. Once he was gone Tak sighed in relief, then returned to watching TV.

Zim decended slowly down into the labs at about two feet per second, he eventually had the computer work on the lift so it wasn't quite so slow. He waited for about twenty-five seconds before the lift stopped and he could step out.

"Hey Skoodge," Zim said casually, eyeing the shorter Irken as he turned around and smiled with a greeting in return. "Have you seen Noah anywhere, I need to talk to him."

"Sure, he's down the hall." Skoodge pointed towards a hallway at the other end of the room, then turned back to the computer he was looking at a moment ago. Zim muttered a "Thanks" in return and headed down the hall towards what he called the 'holo-room'.

The holographic simulation area, a.k.a. holo-room, was probably Zim's favorite room in his entire base. This was because the holo-room was built to turn the entire room into a giant holograph of about anything you can think of. Though the programing for this particular room took forever to hand make and install it was well worth it. Another thing Zim found was pretty sweet was that you could download or create personalities into the main hard drive to make holographic people.

Zim came to a stop in front of the large double doors and put his hand to the key pad, which quickly granted him access. The doors slid apart with a low hiss of escaping air, but Zim didn't really expect what he saw.

The room had been turned into what looked like a hill with a giant oak sitting in the middle, covering the whole hill with shade. In the distance were mountain ranges, a giant lake, miles and miles of plains and the sky was as blue as the ocean with not a cloud in sight. Noah was sitting under the tree and watching as the wild horses ran across the giant fields of greens.

Zim slowly walked over and sat down next to him, making Noah jump a little as he thought he was alone. "Oh, hi Daddy." Noah looked up and smiled at Zim who, in turn, smiled back.

"What's with all this?" Zim gestured out at that mountains and the lake. He didn't realize that Noah "meditated".

"Well, I thought it was pretty. It made me feel better." Noah had now turned his attention back to the horses that had now settled into one place to graze on the grass.

"Okay... Well I'm glad you feel better. Listen, I need you to do something for me." Zim picked up the small child and stood up with him in his arms. He then walked back the way he'd came, through the double doors, down the hall, across the room and up the lift to get to the main floor.

Noah didn't ask what Zim wanted with him or what he was needed to do, partially because he really didn't want to know. Zim didn't usually ask these kinds of things of him so it was a bit odd that all of a sudden he would need something from him. For a brief moment he thought it might have something to do with earlier's fight but was hoping that that matter had been somewhat solved already.

The lift stopped and Zim made no hesitation to ignore the silent female and walk up the stairs two at a time. At first Noah thought they would be going down to the other end of that hall, unfortunately Zim stopped at the top stair and opened Aneera's door instead, Noah suddenly didn't want to be there.

Zim slowly stepped in and closed the door behind him, making Noah grow even more tense and afraid. This was not the kind of thing he had in mind and he really didn't like where this was going.

Aneera hadn't moved since Zim had left, she was still laying on her side with both hands under her pillow while half way curled into a ball. But now she had her eyes closed, not that she was sleeping. Though, when the door opened she creaked one eye open after a second or two to see what was happening.

Zim walked over to her bedside as he did before and with every step he could feel the grip Noah had on his arm tighten. He just ignored his son's discomfort and sat down on the edge of the bed next to Aneera.

She smiled at the two but made no movement at all, Noah really didn't want to be so close and the fact that his antennae were folded back as far as they would go showed every bit of it. So she remaind still and waited.

"You look better." Zim commented with a smile, hoping that it would lift her mood. She did smile back some, but not quite as big or meaningful as Zim's had been.

Noah still didn't like this situation at all and the fact that he was being forced to sit only inches away from a monster scared him almost to the point where he wanted to scream. But he was afraid that if he made any loud noises that she would hurt him for some reason. He was silently told a couple of seconds later to say something but he only shivered and remained quiet.

Zim's antennae suddenly twitched and a loud crash came from down stairs, he really didn't want to deal with this right now. He set Noah down on the bed and quickly left the room in a huff, leaving the two by themselves.

Noah instantly jumped off the bed and ran to the door, but couldn't quite reach the doorknob yet and unfortunately he had no PAK to assist him so he was trapped in there. He grew very horrified and was about to yell for help but a quiet voice called his name from behind. He turned to see Aneera looking at him with a very small smile, he was not comfortable at all.

"Noah," she said, now sitting up so she could see him better. He backed up against the door and his breathing became irreglar. "I'm so sorry, I never meant to hurt you." Noah didn't believe it, the words were coming from a, a, a giant lizard! Surely she couldn't possibly be telling the truth.

Noah glared at her, he wasn't giving in so easily to her tricks, he was smarter than that. Though it seemed that his stare didn't get through to her, she was good. Noah shifted his weight from one foot to the other, showing he didn't like this situation one bit.

Aneera was about to say something more but the door opened, almost knocking Noah to the floor, and Zim walked back in. Noah quickly recomposed himself and started glaring again. Zim looked down and swiftly picked him up while already walking back towards his wife, she adverted her gaze so that she wasn't looking at Noah.

Zim looked down and saw how he was glaring at Aneera and flicked him in the back of the head with his free hand. He honestly didn't get what his problem was, she hadn't made a single move to hurt him in any way.

Noah flinched and looked down, putting a hand back where he'd been flicked. Obviously his father didn't understand, she was waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike! How could he be so blind!?

"What happened?" Aneera asked in a hushed voice, not paying any attention to Noah now. Zim sat down and sighed, then turned his head towards the door.

"Gir dropped another plate again, no big." He smiled to himself and began to stare off into space.

Noah kept stealing quick glances over at Aneera while she wasn't looking, each one more hate-filled than the last. He thought that she was a lier, he thought that she was deceiving them both, acting like a hurt dog. It sickened him, though he couldn't tell Zim, he wouldn't believe him anyways. But what if he was wrong? No, he couldn't be, she must be up to something, something... horrible.

Zim looked down and lightly tugged on his antennae to get his attention for a moment. Once the smeet looked back up he knew he'd been caught stealing hatred glances. Zim was scowling at him, what to do now?

"Uhhhh, yes?" Noah smiled innocently and laced his fingers together, but he knew it wouldn't work.

Zim didn't say anything else, he just picked him up and set him on Aneera's belly, he grew mortified. But Zim didn't move his hands, he held him there so he couldn't get away. Noah freaked and almost screamed, he was... touching her!

He began to squirm and writh in Zim's hands, couldn't he see that he was being tortured? What if she made her move right then? He would be finished! Done! His eyes got bigger every time he looked over at the girl, which was every couple of seconds. Though after about a minute or so he had calmed down enough so that he wasn't shaking anymore, but he was still scared.

"I don't get it, what are you so afraid of?" Zim shook his head in astonishment, he just didn't understand.

Noah didn't answer him, he was too frightened to do anything but breath heavily and clench his father's wrists in a desperate attempt to get away from her.

Aneera hadn't moved an inch, there was no telling what Noah would do if she made any movements at all, he may very well scream until he lost his voice. So she just stayed as still as she could, hoping with every ounce she had that this little trick would work, if it didn't Noah may never want to be near her again.

Another minute went by and Noah was able to regulate his breathing again, though he was still very tense and stiff. So far so good, he was still alive and somewhat well.

After the third had passed the small Irken had unclenched his hands around Zim's wrists, but didn't move them, just in case. He had also closed his eyes to try and not think about where he was or what was going on. He didn't know how much longer he would be able to keep this up, it was driving him crazy.

Zim sighed and picked him back up, but instead of standing he laid down next to Aneera and set Noah between them, then forced him to lay down. He told her to wrap one arm around him so that he couldn't get away and then to stroke his antennae to calm him down some. Once she did Noah was trapped and opened his mouth to scream, but all that came out was a yawn and then he was still.

Noah had fallen asleep in his mother's arms.

* * *

Aneera: Aaaawwwwwww! How cute!

Zim: Wow, he loves you again.

Aneera: I never said that.

Zim: Oh, well, okay.

Aneera: Are you feeling okay?

Zim: Why do you care!?

Aneera: Don't you?

Zim: ......... Uhhhhh............


	7. Forger

Aneera opened her eyes what seemed like a few hours later, her limbs were sore and her eyelids were heavy, she had obviously had too much sleep. When she moved her hand to sit herself up she realized that a very small Irken was nestled in her arms, Noah was still soundly asleep. She almost jumped but held herself steady so that she wouldn't wake him.

There was knock at the door and she quietly called for them to come in, but not expecting who it was. As far as she knew it was only her, Zim, Noah, Kairi, Tak and Skoodge, but to her amazement Tallest Purple entered her room.

It was then that she realized she had been asleep an entire day almost, the others weren't supposed to get there until the next day, which must have been this day. But when she looked out the window she could see that the sun was just rising over the horizon, they must have gotten there early.

Purple walked over a silently as he could, noting the sleeping child in the room, and sat down on her bed. He smiled and reached out a hand to stroke her antennae a few times before saying, "Well at least some of us can sleep at night."

Aneera couldn't help but smile at his words, she just felt so at ease in that moment, Purple had a strange way of lightening the mood when people were stressed or uncomfortable. "I guess, but it's not easy." A small laugh escaped her lips and she looked down at Noah, just in time to see his eyes flutter open.

"Well we're all here, thought you'd like to come down stairs and say 'hi' but Zim said you were still asleep, I didn't believe him." Purple turned towards the door and smiled a bit more.

Aneera removed one arm from around Noah and sat herself up, preparing to go downstairs and see who came, she didn't remember everyone. She did recall the mention of Tex and that made her spirit lift a bit, she hadn't seen him in a long time. In fact, the last time they saw each other was the day she had left the Massive for Earth to defend it from "sure destruction".

Noah sat up too and hopped off the bed with a yawn, then headed for the door. Aneera and Purple exchanged a quick glance before getting up themselves and following him as he exited her room. Upon seeing the large group of people that had congregated in the living room Noah was instantly not tired anymore and backed up to Aneera.

There were at least eight Irkens in the room, Zim being one of them, and Noah only knew a few, Tak, Skoodge and Kairi. There was also a slightly short Irken that was dressed in a guard's uniform and he saw that one female that looked like his mom. Noah looked around some more and saw two others, one he vaguely remembered from a transmission that he happened to be present for but the other he didn't know.

Aneera was also very surprised, everyone was there that Zim said would be there. So without further hesitation she picked up her son, who had no problem with this for reasons still unknown, and headed down the stairs with Purple close behind. As soon as she hit the ground floor everyone in the room was looking in her direction, she smiled at all of the friendly faces, with the exception of Tak of course.

"Since when did you get up so early?" Just then people were having their own conversations again as Zim walked over to the new "arivals". He greeted Aneera with a small kiss, Purple with a smile and Noah with a look that said 'I told you so'. He knew his little stradegy would work and Noah knew that too, so he had every right to rub it in.

"So everyone's here?" Aneera said, taking another good look behind him.

"That's everyone." he replied with a smile of triumph, it was obvious that he was in a very good mood today.

"So should we start, Almighty Second Tallest?" Purple grinned, he was saving the good news for later but he couldn't hold it in any longer. He had recently received word that the second Tallest had died a while ago and that put Zim as second Tallest, but that didn't mean anything yet, another Irken could very well have a growth spurt and surpass even him and Red. But he didn't say that, he spared him the bad news.

"Wait... what? Really? Am I?... SWEET!" So Zim was a lot happier than he showed, he wanted to scream at the moment but he could celebrate later, they had an important meeting to get on with.

"That could change you know." Aneera didn't say this very loudly, if he didn't hear than he didn't hear, if he did that's still his own fault for listening.

"Don't ruin my fun I'm happy." That was all he said before motioning them to sit down and yelled for everyone to be quiet. Unfortunately they weren't listening to him and continued with their own private conversations, until...

"SHUT UP!" Everyone was holding their antennae and looking around to find the source of the noise, soon all eyes were upon Aneera. "Listen or I'll hurt you." Every bit of attention was immediately turned to Zim so he could get this thing over with.

"Thank you. As I was saying, you all know this poor, pitiful, disgusting, vile, wretched, sickening, putrid, aweful, horrid-" Zim stopped.

"Ahem!" Aneera glared warningly at him.

"Excuse for a planet is in danger. No I don't like it but I'm gonna help save it anyways because I want to live. Unfortunately the only person who can help save this planet doesn't believe me when I try to explain the fact that no, I'm not a human. So I needed more people to convince him because-" He was interrupted again.

"Is he a scientist?" Kairi had her hand raised real high when she spoke her question.

Zim eyes her for a second before saying, "Yes."

"I knew it." And that was all she said for the moment. She motioned for Zim to continue.

"Anyway, the reason he needs to believe us is so that he'll tell the whole world because they wont listen to anyone but him, no matter how "absurd" the idea is." Zim held up both hands and quoted 'absurd', aliens were real. Period. End of discussion.

Skoodge raised his hand and looked at Zim thoughtfully until he was called on. "When are we going to tell him? If we wait any longer there's no telling what could happen." Skoodge had a good point.

"Well," Zim began. "I was thinking we should go today, the professor wont be in for very much longer. If we don't act quickly we may loose our chance and Earth would be doomed."

Quiet murmurs began to fill the room and everyone was asking questions about what would happen. Some even questioned if it was the right thing to do. One or two wasn't so sure that showing themselves in front the entire planet was a very smart idea.

"Look, I know all of you are confused, so are we. To some of you this may seem a bit over the top but we've gone over every other possibility and this is the only one that can save Earth. But in order for that to happen we need your help, the more people the better. So, who's with me?" Zim smiled and waited as the hands slowly rose up one by one until the entire room was on his side.

"So, do we leave right now?" Tiz, who was way in the back, caught Zim's attention.

"I don't know, should we?" The small group nodded, Zim was right, if they didn't act quickly they may not get a chance. Hopefully the professor would have enough proof this time.

Tex instantly stood up and headed for the door. "Well, what're y'all waiten' fer? Let's get the show on the road!" The mini mob of Irkens filed out the door and Zim lead the group down the street towards Dib's house.

This time when they all walked out in plain sight there were a lot of people who stared, ran into poles because they weren't paying attention to where they were going, and one tripped over a chihuahua. There was actually one kid who screamed "We're all gonna die!" and ran off without further hesitation.

About ten minutes later Zim stopped in front of the door of the Membrane's residence and knocked until Gaz answered. She looked bored and poorly rested but other than that she was just plain ol' Gaz.

"Well," She looked behind Zim and the hoard of aliens. "You certainly don't see that everyday. And to answer your question no, he left early and he's at his labs downtown." Gaz's voice faded away as she noticed Zeira and how much she looked like Aneera.

"You can't be serious. Sigh, oh well, we'll just have to go see him there." Zim had a feeling that the professor wouldn't be in.

"It's not exactly that easy, you have to go through pretty tight security just to get to his adviser and if he doesn't like you than you're screwed. But I'm sure if I went with you they'd let you in, of course you'd have to do something for me." Gaz smiled at her little bribe, she would only except a handful of things.

"I'll guarantee an "A+" on your next science fair project and I'll do all of your math homework for next week." Zim knew how handle these type of situations.

"Deal." This was an offer that was just too good to pass up so Gaz had to take it, he was someone you could rely on. "We leavin' now?"

Zim nodded and then realized something, it was too far to walk and there was no way that everyone was going to fit in the same car, he'd have to drive. "How many cars you got?"

"Three, wh-... If you wreck the Ferrari I'll kill you."Gaz said nothing else as she walked around the house to the garage, waving a hand for the group to follow.

"Since when did you know how to drive?" Aneera hissed under her breath, clutching Noah tightly. She would honestly be more comfortable with her driving, but she knew that wasn't going to happen.

"Well, while you were away for two years I skipped a couple of grades and took a drivers ed class." Zim smiled and held his hands behind his back, showing that he was pleased with himself.

"But aren't we in the same class?" Aneera looked away and stared at a squirrel that was giving her the evil eye while holding a nut in both hands.

"When you came back I dropped back down two grade levels so you wouldn't get mad at me." By now they had rounded the corner in the back and Gaz had opened up the garage, showing the three shiny sports cars all lined up in a row.

All of the Irkens just scoffed at them thinking that humans had poor transportation vehicles. They had space ships and stuff, this was just primitive.

"Well my Tallest, I suppose you'll have to ride with Gaz." Zim smiled and almost busted out laughing.

"Why? She scares me!" Purple looked fearfully at the purple haired teen that had just hopped into a blue Convertible with two others joining her, Skoodge and Kairi, who sat in the back.

"Because, you wont fit in the Ferrari! You're too tall!" Zim smiled and watched as Purple reluctantly climbed in the front with Gaz, he knew he would not enjoy this, she was a demon!

"Well wait a minute, we can't fit seven people into a Ferrari!" Aneera just had her moment of genious for the day.

"Oh right, well..." Zim looked at the small group of aliens next to him, two wouldn't be able to fit so they'd have to have other means of transportation.

Zink took this golden opportunity and climbed into the back of the Ferrari without any further argument, having Tiz follow closely behind. So then there were only three.

"I call it!" Tex did _not_want to be stuck with either of the girls, so he ran to the car and literally jumped in between the two slightly taller Irkens, sighing a breath of relief so be safe.

"Well, now we only have to worry about two." Zim glanced back at Tak and Zeira.

"I'll ride with her." Zeira smiled and climbed into the Convertible between Skoodge and Kairi, then there was only one, Tak. She couldn't drive and there was no more room in either of the cars.

Before Zim could make suggestions Tak pulled out what looked like a mini surf board and dropped it, instantly causing it to expand and float, it was a hover board. "I'm good." She stepped on and waited for departure.

"Well that takes care of that." Zim then walked over and got into the driver's side of the Ferrari, having Aneera quickly get in on the other side while setting Noah in her lap.

That's when Zim realized he didn't have the car keys, Gaz didn't give them to him. He began looking around and saw her miraculously appear saying, "Follow me." Zim took the keys from her and smiled, he was going to enjoy this very much.

A moment later the Convertable's engine started, Zim took that as his cue and put the keys into the ignition, the purr of the engine pleased him, he may very well get himself one.

"Don't get carried away." Aneera glared at him, there was a child in the car, he better be careful.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Zim smiled and carefully followed Gaz down the driveway and through the neighborhood towards the city. He looked over at Aneera every so often to see if she was okay, he knew why she was so undone, Noah was in the car and she didn't really like that, she'd trust him more with a Voot Cruiser than a Ferrari any day.

Though as they progressed more and more into the city she began to realize that he was good enough that she didn't really have to worry. After all, she'd driven a truck before, back when she was still human, it wasn't _that_ hard.

"So, anybody know where we're going?" Zink leaned forward and looked at the two up front.

"No clue." Zim turned the corner and got onto the highway behind Gaz, making Aneera clench her eyes shut and squeeze the livin' daylights out of Noah. Zim looked over and started to laugh. "Will you calm down? It's not like I don't have a driver's license."

"You don't have a license! You're seventeen!" she argued, knowing full well that he really didn't have one.

"Oh? Then what do you call this?" Zim reached into his uniform pocket and pulled out a little laminated card. He then handed it over to let her see for herself, he hadn't been joking.

"You forged it." she said bluntly before handing it back to him.

"So? It's still a driver's license and it's got my name on it." Zim smiled and put it away, he loved it when she started a stupid argument that she was certain that she'd win and then having him be right instead.

"As long as you're qualified." Aneera smiled too and let Noah breathe again.

"I noticed he's uh, better. It worked?" He reached out a hand and stroked his antennae, pleased that they could once again be called a great big happy family, that's all he ever wanted.

About twenty feet in front of the Ferrari a certain Tallest was enjoying himself, the car didn't have a top on it which added to the fact that he was really tall, so he got a lot of wind in the face.

Though nobody made any conversation, the wind was too loud so they wouldn't be able to hear each other anyways. The others didn't seem to mind, except Kairi, she had her arms folded and and a scowl was present on her face. She couldn't wait until they got there.

As soon as that thought entered her mind she looked up could see 'Membrane Labs Inc.' Finally, the fun would _really_ begin.

* * *

Aneera: Lovely, next chapter you guys get to fight with Prof. Membrane! That should be fun.

Zim: YAY! I got to drive the Ferrari!

Aneera: Yes, good for you.

Zim: I know!

Aneera: What, no 'thank you'?

Zim: ... No.

Aneera: Figures.


	8. Professor Membrane

Gaz pulled into the over sized parking lot, taking one of the reserved worker's spots. She turned off the car and put the keys in her pocket, stepping out of the car as she did so.

Zim quickly pulled up beside her and the car turned off almost as soon as it stopped. He stepped out a minute later and was laughing so hard he couldn't hardly breathe. The three in the back climbed out too but the only one who wasn't laughing was Tex, he'd never laughed at Aneera before. Speaking of whom stepped out a moment later.

"Thank Irk, it's over." As she stepped out Gaz could see that even Noah was giggling, she must have really hated it.

"HAHAHAHA!!! Wow, that was funny!" Zink was laughing as she leaned on Tiz for support, who had his fist in his mouth so that he wouldn't hurt himself.

"Shut up! It wasn't funny!" Aneera was still clutching protectively to Noah, she had not enjoyed that last bit of the ride at all.

In the midst of all this commotion no one seemed to notice as Tak finally arrived. She stepped off the hover board and it returned to it's previous pocket-size state. After that she just stood and watched as the little squabble continued.

"I'm sorry! HAHAHA!! It's just that... YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE LOOK ON YOUR FACE!" Zim was now pointing at her with his other arm around his middle, he was cramping from laughing so much.

"What did you do to her?" Kairi can stomping over to Zim with her hands balled into fists and her eyes squinted into thin little slits. She approached Zim and folded her hands while stood and glared at him.

"He started speeding through traffic and he drifted down the ramp to get off the highway!" Aneera whined, setting Noah on the ground so that he wouldn't suffocate.

"Wow." With that said Gaz began walking towards the building to get this over with, having the others quickly follow in her footsteps. They walked in near silence, with the exception of the often giggle or the inhale of air. About halfway there Aneera screamed.

"Don't touch me!" Zim had apparently tried to make up for scaring her and she didn't accept his apology. In fact, she didn't even want to be near him, that wasn't good.

"Look, I'm sorry for scaring you but you were perfectly safe, there was nothing to be afraid of." Zim then had to settle for walking closer to her than usual if she wouldn't let him actually touch her.

"You were less than an inch away from crashing! There was nothing safe about it!" She wasn't at all happy about what had happened, they were way to close to getting hurt or injured.

"Will you two shut up, your voices are giving me a headache." Gaz cringed as they yelled at each other, breathing a sigh of relief when they stopped. By then they had reached the front door and Gaz stepped through first, entering the main floor.

The room had steel walls with ceiling high glass windows, a few of which were slightly open to let in the cool breeze from outside. In the middle was the front desk which was also made out of metal with one tall fake plant on either side. Behind that was a long walkway from one side of the room to the other that had a metal spiral stair case on each end of the walkway.

Gaz walked up to the lady at the counter who looked bored out of her mind. As soon as the hoard of Irkens started walking towards her her eyes grew twice their previous size and her mouth hung open slightly, letting out a loud gasp.

Then everyone else turned their heads to see what had caused her to suddenly freak. There was total silence after that, you could hear a pin drop from the stillness of the room. It was quiet until one of the workers dropped his glass of water onto the floor, causing it to shatter on contact.

Gaz set both hands on the counter, quickly getting the attention of who was behind the desk. She looked up and quivered, not even asking if there was something she could help with. "I need to see Professor Membrane."

"Uh, h-he c-can't see-" The receptionist cowered away as Gaz leaned forward.

"Does it look like I care? He can stop whatever he's doing long enough to save the planet. Now, I need to see Professor Membrane." Gaz stood up then and folded her arms, waiting as the girl called her father. Once she was done she looked up at Gaz.

"He's up in his office." After that was said she held her breathe as closed her eyes as the group of aliens walked passed her, some giving her weird looks and others just smiling at her.

Gaz led them behind the counter towards the stair case on the right, yelling at everyone to get back to work. They quickly walked up the stairs and onto the walkway, having Gaz turn the corner that lead to a hallway. They quietly walked down to the end of the hallway and waited for the elevator.

"So, what happens when we get there?" Skoodge looked up at Gaz and watched as she thought for a moment.

"Well," The elevator doors opened and let them all in, it had to be at least three times the size of a regular elevator. "I guess that's up to you. I don't really care what you tell him." Gaz stood in the back corner, not wanting to be in the middle of the group.

"What floor?" Kairi called, staring at the buttons numbered from one to fifty.

"Top." Gaz was now leaning against the wall with her eyes shut and her arms folded, obviously trying to blend in with the wall.

Kairi made no further comments and reached her hand up to the very top button, making it light up a bright orange color. She then stepped back and waited as the large elevator rose all the way up to the very top floor.

The small cramped space was eerily quiet as no one spoke a word, the tension was beginning to near extremely uncomfortable as they rose up. The one question that everyone had on their mind was 'What will he say? If he thinks we're all hoaxes who else do we turn to? If he tells the world how do we fight?' It was enough to make the air thick and nearly unbreathable.

There was a loud 'ding' that rang off the walls and almost everybody jumped at the sudden noise. When the doors opened they all quickly rushed out, glad to be in an open space again.

This time they were in a long white hallway with a pair of silver double doors on the other end. That was obviously the Professor's office, there were no other doors in sight.

Gaz silently led them down the hallway with Almighty Tallest Purple at her side, ready to make an appearance. Hopefully this time he would believe them and not wave them off as a couple of hoaxes. Gaz quickly reached the doors, then turned the handle and pushed then open.

The tall pale man in the lab coat looked up from his desk and stood up. "Ah, Gaz, it's so good to see you!" The others hadn't walked in yet but were perfectly visible behind her.

"Cut the crap dad, you know why I'm here." She waved a hand and the small group filed into the room, earning a very loud and stressed gasp from the Professor.

"Hello Professor, it's nice to see you again." Zim smiled and stepped forward, making himself known. He showed no threat what so ever, he acted just like a regular person that had business to take care of.

"Yes, I see you've brought friends." Prof. Membrane was not very comfortable, the slowness of his words made that much clear. He peered over Zim's shoulder to look at the rest of the "aliens" that were behind him. They looked real enough, but with just a little bit of science he could easily change a grape into an apple, they were all probably hoaxes.

"I have, and I'm sure you know why." Zim smiled some more, making the Professor feel even more uncomfortable with this situation.

"You're not talking about-" Zim held up a hand for him to stop.

"Yes, I do mean the existance of 'aliens'. I hope this time you'll have enough proof to believe us." Prof. Membrane didn't know what to say, he was speechless. If they were real there was so much to learn and discover. If they were hoaxes than another opportunity down the drain.

"I'm not sure what you mean." He then stepped out from behind his desk to converse more easily with the group, and to get closer to the door.

"Well, it's a long story actually. You see, on our planet there are two types of people. There are the types who are perfect and meet every requirement that's thrown at them and then there are the ones who are called defects. Unfortunately they don't "belong" in the society so they must be deactivated." Zim paused and waited to see if the Professor understood.

"I see." he said quietly, mostly to himslef than anything.

Zim continued with his explanation. "I was lucky enough to live, Irk knows why but I am thankful. The good news is we're somewhat safe here, the bad news is the three of us are wanted in most parts of the universe right now. I don't think I need to get into details about what we've done but to make this shorter a lot of rules have been broken. They're going to do whatever it takes to kill us and if that means blowing up your planet they'll do it." Zim stopped there and waited for a reaction.

"You mean to tell me that because of _you_our entire planet is at risk?" The Professor folded his arms and glared at him, making Zim's antennae fall back a little.

"I guess you could say that..." Zim took a step back closer to his Tallest for protection, there was no telling what kind of security this guy had.

"Why would I believe you? How do I know you're not all hoaxes?" The entire group got angry just then, it was offensive to be called fakes. The only one who didn't start growling was Purple, he was sensible enough to keep his rage to himself.

"Because if we were hoaxes then we wouldn't have bothered. But of course you know we're real, you couldn't possibly have believed the government when they said that the Roswell incident what some form of top secret weather balloon could you?" Purple floated about two inches closer to where the Professor was standing.

"But that _was_ a hoax! Aliens can't exist!" This was when they began to shout at each other, a sign that this was not going well at all.

"And why not!? You exist don't you!?" Kairi stepped out from the back of the group, clenching and unclenching her fists in anger as the man in front of her made her more angry by the second.

"But I'm not an alien!" he shouted back, leaning forward and narrowing his eyes.

"You are to us!" Tiz yelled, he too stepped out of the crowd, snarling with disgust and hatred.

"This is ridiculous! I can't believe I'm still talking to you! Security!" The group huddled back together and turned around in time to see ten large men with thick plastic Shields and clubs, like those are going to help!

But because they worked in a science lab they were used to seeing all kinds of weird things so the appearence of the group didn't surprise them a bit in the world.

"Get them!" The line of guards began to advance on the Irkens, not the least bit afraid. They all looked irritated and tired, it must have been a long day for them.

"You're joking right?" Gaz turned to face her father, he just couldn't be serious. The fate of the entire world rested in his hands and he was going to imprison the people who came to warn him? Well Gaz was not going to have it, not at all. "Call them off dad!"

"I'm sorry daughter but I can't do that." he said simply, standing right where he was to watch.

"Fine, I'll do it for you." Gaz stepped in front of the guards and stood there, if they wanted her 'friends' so badly than they were going to have to go through her to get them. If they were smart they'd back off, which is exactly what they did.

"Now we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way." Gaz started staring down every last one of the uniformed officers, making them back up until they were at least six feet away from her. After that she turned back to her father and sighed, how could one person be so naive?

"But Gaz-" the Professor began, hoping to reason with the girl.

"Save your breathe, you're gonna need it. And I hate to rain on your parade but," She pointed behind her, "they're not hoaxes and unless you want to die along with every other human on this planet I suggest you better listen." She then stepped aside and let them finish.

Zim stepped forward again, this time he looked intimidating and irritated. "Hypothetically speaking, say we _were_ real and your planet really _was _in danger, what would you do?"

Prof. Membrane eyed him for a moment, the more he thought about this whole situation the more he got the feeling that they were real, he didn't like that. "I'd call the president." What a brilliant answer... If you were planning on dying.

"Sigh, that wouldn't be very wise. If you called him and he told everyone they'd all have a nervous breakdown and for Red it would be like taking candy from a baby. What I would suggest is leave the president out of this and tell them yourself." Zim waited for him to say something, indicating he either understood or that the info needed to be repeated.

"Hypathetically speaking of course, I suppose that would be the wiser choice, but it doesn't really matter, you're not real." By this time every one of them had had it with this human, they were getting nowhere.

"Okay look, you can believe us or not, but either way your planet is still at risk and if you don't do anything about it you'll be the one to blame." After that the room was silent, only the steady breathing was able to be heard.

"Okay, I'll take your word for it, but can I please run a few test just so I don't feel so blind about this whole thing?" The Prof. smiled and clapped his hands together, trying to make himself sound harmless.

"Uhhhhhh..." Zim turned around and looked at everyone else, who in turn, looked about the room. "Well?" he said, waiting impatiently. There was a bout two more seconds of silence before a group moan sounded in the room. "I take that as a yes."

"Excellent! Follow me!" Professor Membrane lead the group out of the room and down the hall.

* * *

Aneera: Wow, that actually worked.

Zim: Of course it did! I AM ZIM!

Aneera: I know that.

Zim: Eh? NO YOU DIDN'T! YOU LIE!

Aneera: Sometimes I question even myself.

Zim: You're stoopid!

Aneera: Sigh, I rest my case.


	9. The Labs

The now larger group stepped out of the elevator and into a long and wide hall scattered with busy scientists on the brink of new discoveries. Most of them were carrying a large stack of papers or documents, some had their arms in the air while they screamed the name of a fellow scientist and others were just running about like a chicken with it's head chopped off.

By the looks of this room you probably wouldn't be able to tell that it was about five stories underground, this was where most of the real labs were, all of the above floor were for offices and such. Most of the labs were down here because of the cool temperature that lasted all year round. However, there were a few rooms just for research but the majority of the rooms were for experimentation and observation.

Prof. Membrane lead then through the traffic of busy people and down a crowded hall marked 'BioChemistry Labs' which sent chills down all of the aliens' spines. It was amazing that not many of the scientists noticed or cared about what was walking through the halls at the moment, obviously that didn't matter to them, they were focused on the work at hand.

They continued down the hall in both curiosity and uneasiness, from what they saw these humans were very primitive and dumb, to them this equipment wouldn't even hold a smeet's interest, it was so unadvanced. But it unnerved them because it was a possibility that they were going to become victim to all of this, that was not a comforting thought.

The Professor stopped at a door labeled 'Sample Extractions', that didn't help the mood much either, all antennae were flattened by this point, even Noah seemed to understand that this was not cool.

He slid a small card into the slot on the door and it opened with a quiet hiss of escaping air, showing them what lay beyond. There were about five scientists in the room that was filled with computers, drills, scalpels, small flashlights, test tubes and about a million and a half syringes.

"Professor! It's good to see-... Uh... Do I need to ask?" One of the female scientists turned around and eyed the green skinned people nervously, somehow she knew they weren't one of their experiments, they must be from _outside_.

"Katherin, it's good to see you too. I need you to take a few blood samples for me." He then gestured to the large group behind him, her face instantly paled dramatically, she was going to have to _touch_ those things!

"Of course." The way her voice shook made the other four look up from their computer screens to see what was going on, almost regretting it.

"Great!" He then turned to look at the Irkens behind him. "Unfortunately the others are busy," There was the sound of exhaling from the other side of the room, "so this may take a minute."

As if on instinct they all formed a line, having Zim being pushed to the front and Tak fighting for the end of the line. Katherin quickly counted the number of Irkens and then walked over to one of the tables lined with syringes, picking up eleven of them.

"Mommy, what is she gonna do?" Noah looked up and held on to Aneera's wrists. She was about to answer but the approaching girl caught her attention.

Katherin walked up to Zim and suddenly grew tense, dealing with 'extra terrestrials' was not exactly her forte, so naturally she knew this was not going to be pleasant. She waited patiently at he took off his left glove and rolled up his sleeve, holding out his arm to her. Reluctantly she put ten of the syringes into her pocket and reached out with her right hand and held his arm steady while she injected him with the needle. She did not see what she expected, instead of green blood, hence the green skin, his blood was a dark purple color, almost black but not quite that dark.

The Professor leaned over her shoulder and got the most intrigued look on his face, the best explanation he could come up with was either he was lacking some part of the make-up of oxygen, it was a very dark color but was neither blue nor red, or he had more of one thing then the other, hydrogen or oxygen he wasn't sure.

Once the syring was full Zim yanked his sleeve back down and pulled on his glove while he watched the girl leave for the other side of the room, placing the syringe in a tube that was inside of a very large box. After that she motioned for the next person to come forward and then pulled out a second syringe.

"What's the matter? You scared?" Zim mocked, noticing the sick look on Aneera's face. "It's only a needle, you'll live... barely." He then laughed as she whined, it was her turn.

"Stop it! You know I have a phobia of needles! Especially syringes!" While she was busy yelling at her husband she failed to notice that Katherin had already injected her with the needle, filling it about half way, then taking it out and walking away.

Zim shook his head but didn't say anything, there was no point, so he walked back over to the Professor and waited while the rest had their turns. "So you still don't believe me?"

The Professor looked down and smiled, though you couldn't tell, his collar his the bottom half of his face. "It's just normal procedures, I'm sure I'll come to the conclusion that you really are fakes after the tests are done."

"Sigh, I never knew what she saw in this planet but if it means that much than I suppose it's worth something." Zim didn't really say this to anyone in particular, whoever didn't hear didn't miss anything. "So what other tests are you putting us thr-... If you're thinking what I think you're thinking than you better start runnin'."

"Why not? Autops-" Pro. Membrane stopped at being yelled at.

"Don't even say the word! It's offensive." Zim was not happy right now, he was in a place that he didn't want to be in, he was having things done to him that he didn't want to be done to him and now autopsies were coming into the conversation? So he was from another planet, big deal! They didn't have to go and cut everyone open!

"Then how are we supposed to see your insides?" he asked, not really caring that he'd offended the 'alien'.

"I'd rather you didn't." Zim had no wish in conversation now, he didn't want to end up doing something or saying something that he'd regret later, the Professor might change his mind.

After another couple of minutes Katherin had finished taking samples and was now over at the computer on the other end of the room, where she had been putting the filled syringes to be tested. She typed in a few things and then walked over to shut the door of the box, a beep came from the computer as it processed the information. Charts and data tables flashed on and off of the screen before big, bright red letters appeared on the screen.

**'****UNKNOWN SPECIMEN****'**

Prof. Membrane's breath caught in his throat, he couldn't believe it, it just wasn't possible, there were no such things as aliens... Dib had been right all this time. "And I called him crazy..." he mumbled, now feeling extremely guilty for his harsh words towards his own son.

Zim looked up and saw the detached gaze he had, it was creepy. He then noticed that as Katherin turned around the others seemed to notice too, reading the words on the screen made them turn towards the aliens and back up against the walls in fear. Never had he thought that he could put that much dread in someone, it scared him a little actually to know that these people really were fragile and defenceless.

He always knew that most of the other races were stronger and more evolved than the humans but seeing the look on their faces made him realize just how unstable they can be and how easily scared they are. Maybe Aneera was right, maybe they were worth saving, just because she knew they couldn't save themselves. There was something there that she could see, maybe it was her maternal instincts, or maybe there actually was something there. Zim had always found if fascinating that the Dragons could literally see people's aura.

The Dragon's history was actually an interesting story. They weren't always what the humans thought of Dragons, giant scaley lizards that breathed fire, they actually looked sort of human at first. They had the general shape of a human but they had scales and were anywhere from bright green to deep red and back to soft orange. They usually had pointed ears like elves and their wings and tails were constantly visible, how Aneera could instantly change in a second was still a mystery to even him.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when someone yelled his name. "ZIM! WAKE UP ALREADY!" Tak was waving her hand in front of his face while glaring at him. He looked up and blinked but he wasn't completely out of it, then someone else yelled his name.

"I'M AWAKE! Sheesh! I'm gonna go deaf if you don't shut up." He rubbed his antennae to make the throbbing go away, they hurt terribly now, he couldn't hardly touch them without wincing.

"It's time to go." Aneera walked up to him and nudged him so he'd follow as they began to leave the room.

The Professor led them down a long corridor that was getting darker as they progressed, instead of the ceiling lights this hall only used the lights that were wired alongside the the floor where it met the walls on either side. It made the atmosphere eerie and made you paranoid, a few of the Irkens kept turning their heads every so often.

"Unfortunately because the equipment down here uses up so much electricity we can only use a minimal light source, that's why it's so dark in this part of the lab." Prof. Membrane stopped at a steel reinforced door, them punched in the code that opened the door.

The room was filled with scientists that were running about, doing different experiments and researching various organisms. Large machines were scattered around the large room, in a lot of ways it resembled Zim's technical lab, only it was four times bigger. Wires ran along the ceiling, the walls were covered in monitors, buttons, knobs and meters of various sorts. All of the scientists were wearing goggles, thick gloves and long white lab coats, just like the Professor.

"This is where we conduct all of our hazardous experiments." The Professor led them deeper into the large room.

"Hazardous? What do you mean... hazardous?" Aneera clutched Noah tightly, she did not like this place one bit. Hazardous was not her favourite word and being in the same room as anything hazardous made her uncomfortable.

"Well, we deal with deadly toxins and acids in here, but I assure you, you're perfectly safe." They had now come to a section of the lab that was roped off but a large piece of metal was clearly visible. "We're not really sure what this is but-"

"It looks like a spaceship." Skoodge stepped around Tak to get a closer look at the strange object. From what he could see it was only the side panel of a ship and by the markings on it he would guess it was a knock off of an Irken Fighter Jet, it must have been from one of the soldiers that Red sent out.

"We just recently found this one in Michigan, about a week ago actually. We're not really sure as to what it is-" For probably the fourth or fifth time that day the Professor was once again cut off.

"It's a spaceship! It looks like our technology but shape of it is all wrong," Skoodge turned to Zim. "Could this be one of Red's Jets?"

Zim pondered that thought for a moment, it did look like Irken origin but there was something a tad bit off about it, something didn't quite fit. "I dunno, could be, but I don't think so."

Skoodge then got a very disturbed look on his face. "You don't think that there's a rebellion do you? What if a bunch of defects that got away banned together and are out to destroy us!?"

"Skoodge, that's the dumbest idea you've ever had!" Kairi almost smacked him upside the head for that, he was thinking nonsense and he knew it, Irken rebellion? HA! He only wishes.

"Well did you find any dead bodies?" Leave to Tiz to try and pry out the gory details, that was always his favourite part, blood and guts was what really caught his attention.

"Actually yes, but we don't have it here, the government has it." Prof. Membrane began to walk away, leading them to another corner of the room where an operation table was set up, but without any of the tools. He stopped next to the side and motioned for Zim to lay down on it.

"If you think I'm gettin' on that thing then you are sadly mistaken." There was no way no how that he was going to get on that table, he was about to shout 'Over my dead body!' but decided that it might not be the most appropriate thing to say, he was in a room full of scientists and one that was all to eager to get his hands in his guts.

"Ha ha, don't worry, I'm not going to cut you open, it's just an internal x-ray is all, nothing harmful." He once again motioned for the alien to lay down, which he did, though not liking it. Zim muttered 'Dumb scientist doesn't know who he's dealing with.' then climbed onto the table and laid down on his back. It was an uncomfortable position, considering that he was actually laying on his PAK, that wasn't good for his back.

"You better not lie to me." Zim narrowed his eyes and watched as the Professor pushed a small button on the underside of the table. Metal restraints came up through the table and pinned Zim down by his wrists and ankles. "Hey! What are you doin'!?" Zim began to jerk and squirm, trying to break free of the restraints.

"Now now, calm down, I'm jusy taking an internal x-ray is all, you wont be harmed." The Professor walked over and began to turn some knobs on the side pannel of the machine next to the table.

"How do you know!?" Zim gave up fighting and just glared at the man, he was starting to get really pissed off. How was he supposed to know that this contraption wasn't going to harm him!? He didn't know squat about Irken anatomy! He didn't even believe him a couple minutes ago! Was this guy bipolar? He sure acted like it.

"Ha ha! Just relax, it wont take long." Once he said that last word a red laser came down from overhead and scanned over Zim's body twice before disappearing. The screen that the Professor was looking at displayed a detailed image if Zim's insides, making him gasp with shock.

"You wanna let me go now?" Zim's patience were thining quickly and wouldn't be long before he finally lost it and took a good punch at the guy, it sounded very relieving at the moment anyways.

"Of course." his voice droned, making him sound like an overly happy robot. He reached down and pushed the button again, setting the alien free, who hopped off the table eagerly and began to rub his wrists to ease the pain.

"Can we please leave? Some of these people are staring at me." Tak walked into the middle of the group, hoping that it would help matters some, but her being so tall wasn't very helpful at all.

"Yeah, they're creeping me out." Saying that Purple began floating towards the exit, excited to soon be out of this place.

"We have matters to discuss anyway." Aneera ran to catch up to Purple, she was getting stared at too and it didn't make her feel comfortable. What was so scary about it was the fact that most of them were guys, I mean, could they not see her holding a child!? Hello! Was common sense not mandatory here?

* * *

They stepped out of the cramped elevator and into a large lounge, mostly white with steel tables and a few chairs. The couches were plush and spotless, seeming to shine under the bright lamps overhead.

The group found places to sit down and made sure to hush their mouths, letting Zim speak was the wiser idea, he had more self control than most of them. Once the Professor sat down he looked up at Zim and waited for the speech.

"So what exactly is going to happen? I mean, if a war is going to start how do we-?" He stopped right there, Zim's hand held in the air.

"Before you start rambling off we need to know when you plan on telling everyone, we don't have much time on our hands and every day gets more dangerous." Now Zim let the tall annoying man speak.

"Well, I could do it the day after tomorrow if that's alright with you. You're going to be the one telling us what to do." Even through the goggles it was easy to see the fear in his eyes, he knew this was no laughing matter.

Zim opened his mouth to speak but a loud ringing noise began to echo off the walls. He turned to Aneera and glared, of all of the days she had her phone on today!? TODAY!? Was she expecting someone?

"What!?" Aneera leaned away and pulled out her cell phone, checking the collar ID. "Oh boy, here we go again." She answered the call but put the caller on speaker.

"Hello my little nuisance." Red's voice came through loud and clear.

* * *

Aneera: Sorry it's late! I had a busy weekend, what with my science fair project and all.

Zim: I bet it was about how invertebrate animals are smarter than you.

Aneera: NO! It was about light! AND RAINBOWS!

Zim: You have one twisted mind...

Aneera: Tch, looks who talkin'.

Zim: -_- Sigh...


	10. Giz

All of the Irkens crowded around Aneera to hear what Red had to say, this was a good opportunity for the Professor to listen in and find out for himself just what was going on. If he still didn't believe them and this didn't work than the only other choice they would have was to take him to Irk, but that was _not_ going to happen. So for now they stuck with eavesdropping on what Red was saying.

"Yes person who I hate more then anything else in the universe?" Aneera never called him Red anymore, he didn't even deserve that much respect, especially not out of her.

"I wanted to know who planted the virus in the atomic bomb, because it certainly wasn't one of my workers." he spat, though if he were actually in the room he probably would have ended up spitting all over her... comforting thought.

"THAT WAS ME!" Tiz screamed delightfully, feeling oh so very proud of himself at the moment. Even from the other side of the room you could hear Red's growl over the phone, it was insane.

"Tiz, of course. Well anyway I also wanted to say that we do have your planet surrounded and I assure you that you can't win." You could practically hear the happiness in his voice, he really wanted them dead that badly.

"HA! That's what _you_think! But just wait! We'll kick your butt! YOU UNHOLY IRKEN!" Kairi hollered, throwing her fists up in the air like she was trying to punch someone. Zim had lean away from her so her fist wasn't met with his face, but he didn't notice that Tak was sitting next to him.

"Kairi? Is that you? Wow, I thought you were dead... Oh well, you will be!" Red then laughed an evil maniacal laugh, that was certainly unusual for him.

"Sigh, here, you guys are killing me, I'm squished!" Aneera took out a small chip in her phone and set it on the table in front of her. Then she retrieved a small orb from her PAK and slid the card into it, then set the orb on the table. Once she turned it on a detailed picture of Red appeared on the wall, almost like a projection, only more advanced. "Ha! I told you!" she said, turning to Zim. "I don't need your help with everything!"

"... No comment. I can't really say anything to that..." Zim looked away and decided to glare at Red.

"What do you want now!?" Red snapped, glaring equally back at Zim, his face all scrunched up with his bottom lip poking out. The two glared at each other for a minute or so before someone said something.

"Who is that?" Red's head snapped over to the tall ugly thing in the white coat, was he crazy or something? He looked like it, and he had a familiarly large head, hmmm, interesting.

"That's the evil thing that's trying to kill you all!" Zink, who was otherwise quiet, leaned forward and squinted at the man, she was always the odd one, but nobody ever quite figured out what was wrong with her. Most people thought it was because she hung around with robots all day and others thought it was because she had a loose bolt. Aneera thought it was because the got shocked by a stray wire, she did twitch a lot and was usually hyper.

"Oh, so he's the bad guy?" He didn't quite get it yet, for what reason is still unknown but it ws clear that details needed to be explained.

"You have no idea." Noah replied, not taking his eyes away from the wall he was staring at. He had a sour look on his face, obviously he was not happy to see Red.

"Well I suppose that would depend on what side you were on. But to you I would be considered your enemy, stupid Earthling! Jeez, are all of your people this dumb?" Red rolled his eyes and huffed, the sooner this planet was out of his antennae the better, thankfully the three defectives would be going down with it. Though he did feel unhappy that he couldn't keep Aneera as a slave or something, she was just too smart.

"Are you their leader or something?" Prof. Membrane didn't like this guy already, he was very disrespectful.

"Duh. Who else would would I be you moron?" Red was loosing his patience very quickly, he had something to say and by Irk he was gonna say it! This human was just so... HUMAN!

"Okay! Shut up!" Zim then turned to Red and glared. "You had something to say? Or did you just want to stand there like a babbling idiot?" Zim crossed his arms and waited expectantly for Red to say something insulting.

"Why you good for nothing, short, stupid, worthless, annoying little defect! How dare you!?" Red hissed loudly and his eyes were so thin they were almost hard to see.

"You were saying?" The smile on Zim's face almost made Red completely loose it, he wanted to scream out something so unholy at the Irken that he'd be killed just for doing so. He wanted to see that reaction that filled him with feeling of superiority, he wanted to feel the anger of Zim's screams, but unfortunately he had something to say.

"You have less than two months until your entire planet is annihilated, in your position the smartest thing to do would be to abandon it and save yourselves." Internally Red was praying that they'd be stubborn enough to stand their ground and try to save the pitiful ball of dirt.

"Keep dreaming." Aneera shot him a hateful glare before he ended his call and the room was silent. The Professor blinked and looked at Zim, still trying to make some sense of what just happened.

"Saturday sounds great, you can leave now." Prof. Membrane didn't even bother to show them out, he just stared at the wall as they showed themselves to the door and headed home.

* * *

The door to the house burst open as the group poured into the house after dropping Gaz and her car off at her house. It had been a long day and everyone was exhausted, not tired just out of energy. Gir was sitting on the couch and was soon joined by Tiz, Kairi, Skoodge, Tak and Tex. Zeira, who hadn't said a word all day, accompanied Purple to the labs while Zink quickly followed.

"Goodnight." Noah jumped from Aneera's arms and went upstairs to Zim's room to get some sleep, he needed some, badly. His parents just silently watched as he disappeared upstairs and closed the door behind him.

"You think he's okay?" Aneera turned her head and looked at Zim, hoping for some form of answer. She was sadly disappointed as he had nothing to say, just nodding his head was all he was going to do. "If you say so."

The next hour or so was spent watching TV and laughing their antennae off at how stupid humans are on a show called 'AFV' or something like that, they didn't really pay attention.

Some kid had just got a face full of chicken feathers as Zink came up from the labs while holding something behind her back. Zim sighed and shut off the TV, waiting for Zink to get it over with.

"Guess what Tiz?" she asked, almost like a small child that just had _way_ too much sugar.

"What Zink?" He could tell this was most likely going to be painful.

"You remember that demonic S.I.R. unit I was working on right? Well, I made one for you." She then dropped the thing on the ground in front of her and it sprang to life. "This is Giz, Giz, this is Tiz." Zink pointed to the blue eyed male who was looking curiously at the robot.

"Giz, reporting for duty, SIR!" It held up an arm and it's eyes glowed red, this was definitely a demonic robot. What made it look so was that it's right half was covered in spiky armor painted with flames. On it's left half it's hand wasn't like the right one, which was much like Gir's. His was a three fingered claw that looked very deadly.

"Uhhhhh, I'm speechless." Tiz continued to stare at the piece of metal with wondering eyes, it certainly was something to look at. Everyone else oin the room seemed to think the same thing as they peered at it, questioning one thing, what it anything like Gir? Irk, they hoped not.

"Why?" Aneera peered up at Zink and held up her hands a little for emphasis on the fact that she thought it was the strangest thing that that weapon specialist has ever done.

"Because! That's why." Zink folded her arms and smiled with triumph, what could you say to that? Nothing! HA!

"So, what does it do?" Skoodge asked, putting his hands on Zim's head to push himself up to get a better view of the S.I.R. He couldn't figure out why she would make one so evil looking.

"Observe." Zink held out a piece of string and dropped it in front of the robot. Giz jumped up about six inches, transformed his right claw into a sword and cut the piece of string in half, all in a matter of two seconds. He landed with his head bowed and the sword positioned to look as if really were bowing.

In the matter of seconds it took for him preform his little stunt Aneera already had her arms around Zim's waist as she looked in horror at the robot, her hands shaking and her antennae quivering. "Is that thing supposed to be safe?"

"Of course." Zink nudged the little robot and he looked up at Zink, bending backwards to do so and ending up falling on his back. Giz then waved and giggled, much like Gir would do on several occasions.

"Oh no, not another one." Zim closed his eyes and let his head fall back onto the couch, he could tell that he'd have to kick them all out early, there was no way he could deal with _two_of those stupid little robots. Gir was a handful on his own, Giz would just end up overwhelming him and being stressed out right now was not going to be very helpful.

"Please tell me you're leaving early!" Tak hollered suddenly, crossing her fingers and hoping to get a positive answer. Zink only scowled at her and lowered her head, she hated Tak almost as much as Aneera did, she just couldn't stand the girl.

"Fortunately for you, yes, we will. Unfortunately for you, you'll most likely be leaving soon too." Tak rolled her eyes in response and looked away, not wanting to look at the other anymore, she thought it wasteful of her precious time. Zink then turned back to Tiz and smiled. "Well, he's all yours!"

"But I-!" Tiz would have said more but Giz attached himself to Tiz's leg and began to giggle, he was like the dark side of Gir in a way, only smarter and more efficient. Like most S.I.R. units Giz was also a thermos! But sadly, Gir was not.

"Oh, just one thing, don't make him mad!" With that last little helpful hint she disappeared into the labs to finish up another project before she had to leave.

There was a moment of silence as the group sat and stared at the robot, not sure as to what to make of the demonic thing. It looked dangerous and evil but acted harmless enough, it just stood and stared at everyone. Nobody moved, there was no telling what this thing was capable of, it was Zink who built it after all and she had one twisted mind.

"What's wrong with it?" Kairi leaned forward and cocked her head to one side, trying to see if it would do anything. It did, spontaniously. It climbed onto Tiz and latched himself to his new Master.

"GAH!" Tiz fell to the floor with the insane thing still on top of him.

"Awww! He likes you!" Gir squealed, laughing insanely as he watched the scene before him.

"Well, as much as I hate to do it I should go now, before my brain melts." Tak got up off the couch and began to head towards the lift on the landing.

Aneera looked up and smiled. "You're seriously leaving?" Finally, that little monster would be out of the house!

"Uh-huh." Tak didn't even bother to say goodbye to anybody, she just disappeared into the lift upstairs and left. Sure, she'd rather stay close to Zim but that little robot would annoy her to no end, she thought it would be best if she just left.

"Awww, Takky go bye byes!" Gir shouted, sticking out his lower lip. He was too stupid to realize that she was a trouble maker.

After Tak had left the house the air was noticeably thinner and less tense, peace had once again rested upon the room.

"So, what happens now?" Skoodge asked, sinking into the couch.

"I guess we wait." Zim said, not really sure if they could do anything else, at least not until Saturday.

* * *

Aneera: I know, crappy stopping point. And it's late too, but I was sick so I'm sorry.

Zim: EEEEWWWW! GET AWAY FROM ME YOU FILTHY GERM INFESTED WORM!

Aneera: Oh come on! I'm not that sick!

Zim: Don't touch me! Keep your filth away from me!

Aneera: Sigh, sometimes I wish you could just try and think about someone other than yourself.

Zim: Why would I do that? You're a stinking human!

Aneera: *cough* You are so dumb.

Zim: YOU SPRAYED YOU GERMS ALL OVER ME! YOU WRETCHED FEMALE!


	11. Growth Spurt

The rest of the crowd disappeared later that night, seeing as their help was no longer needed. Zink and Tiz were the first two to leave, probably because they shared a ship, then Kairi left about two minutes after that because she was tired of Gir. Skoodge scurried silently out of the house when Tex started telling stories about his earlier days. So that left Purple, Tex and Zeira.

"Where's mah TAQUITTOS!?" Gir had been sitting on his head for the last half hour and had just laid eyes upon the stove, _his_ stove, Master didn't use it.

"What'd he say?" Zeira asked, watching him skitter into the kitchen like a little mouse, except he had his arms in the air and he was screaming. Zeira shook her head, she would never understand it, he was just so far fetched she didn't see how he could function.

"Well I'll tell you what, that little critter sure is a live wire." Tex leaned over to look past Zeira just in time to see Gir smack face first into the stove, leaving a big dent the front, followed by a pained squeal from Gir.

"Huh, try living with him and putting up with it every minute of every day." Zim leaned back and rested his head in his hands, unfortunately Minimoose was using the holographic simulations room for hibernating so Gir had no one to play with. Noah was still asleep but he probably wouldn't play with him either, Gir had completely obliterated his first impression on that level.

Purple then appeared from the labs below looking like the research rat he was. Hie eyes were heavy and antennae drooped, mouth slightly hung open and he was swaying from side to side like he just lost a bet and had to chug down ten large glasses of Egg Nogg. All in all he looked tired and awful.

"Uh Purple? You doin' okay? You need some help?" Aneera started to stand up but Purple raised a hand and smiled. With some effort he was able to get from where he was standing to one end of the couch where he stood and smiled woozily. Aneera started to laugh and the heads turned one by one, each one giggling more loudly than the last.

"My Tallest? You look... aweful." Zeira had her hand up to her mouth to keep her from cracking up too much but the smile on her face was evident and plain to see.

"Thank you Zeira, that's very kind of you." Purple said sarcastically, heading up the stairs slowly.

"Where are you going?" Zim opened one eye and smiled, maybe the rest of them were leaving too, if he was lucky.

"_We_are leaving, come on Tex, Zeira, we gotta go." Purple didn't spare them another word and continued up the stairs and into the lift, having the two mentioned Irkens quickly follow after saying their goodbye's. Once as the rest of the the visitors were gone Zim breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Finally." he said happily, sinking farther into the couch while closing his eyes. Aneera shook her head and smiled, he really was one for privacy and didn't like large hoards of people in his living space.

It wasn't two seconds later that a loud, surprising yell came from upstairs. Both heads turned to listen but it stopped, then all was silent.

"What was that?" Aneera whispered.

"It sounded like Noah." Zim slowly stood up and began to walk towards the stairs.

"But, Noah has a high squeaky voice, he's only a child, he doesn't sound like that." Aneera didn't believe it was her son, he was little, really little. She began to stand up but stayed put as Zim walked up the stairs and made his way over to the door. He looked at her before he opened the door, then lightly pushed it open.

"Noah?" He peered in and saw that he wasn't in the bed asleep like he orginaly thought. Zim stepped inside and peeked around the corner where his window was and saw Noah standing in front of the mirror with his mouth hung open. "Noah? What-?" He stopped, there was something different about him, he didn't quite look the same.

Noah had grown a full twelve inches taller in the span of about five hours, that was pretty amazing. He was now a total of two feet four inches.

"What happened to me!?" Noah began to yank on his antennae, he just didn't understand why. Was this supposed to happen? Or was he cursed? "What's wrong with me!?"

"Nothing, you're perfectly fine." Zim laughed and walked over to him, kneeling down for better conversation.

"What do you mean 'fine'?" Noah scowled and looked up slightly, there was nothing fine about what had happened to him, he changed quite a bit in a very short amount of time.

"You grew, that's normal, it's _supposed _to happen." Zim smiled some more, tyring to lighten Noah's mood.

"Well yeah, but this much in five hours!?" Noah sat on the floor and pouted, he just didn't get it, surely it was unnatural to grow so much in a such a short time period. Maybe it was a growth spurt... an extreme growth spurt?

Aneera came into the room with a smile, making the two boys on the floor look up, one smiling and one not really caring. "So, that's what all this fuss is about? You grew!" She walked over and sat on Noah's opposite side so he was in the middle.

"Yeah, but a lot." Noah then closed his eyes and fell on his back with his arms outstretched, heaving out a big sigh in frustration.

"Oh come on, that's probably as much as you'll grow for right now. It'll be a while before you grow again." Zim could clearly remember the amount of years between the only two growth spurts he ever had, it was about seven hundred years. "Yeah, it's gonna be a while."

* * *

"'Oh, it'll be a while before you grow again.' Really!?" Noah glared at Zim with his arms folded while his dad lounged on the couch in his LIES!!! Overnight Noah had grown to an astounding height of four foot one!That's a total of fourty-nine inches! FOURTY-NINE!

"Okay, so you had a _really_extreme growth spurt, so what?" Zim didn't know what the big deal was, growing tall was considered a wonderful thing on Irk, what was his problem?

"Why though? I mean, I know this doesn't happen to everybody!" Noah climbed on the couch and crawled into Zim's lap, which, he was too big for now.

"Well, I don't know why. But why are you so upset?" Though Zim was in slight pain from Noah's weight he decided that he'd live long enough to be caring for a minute.

"Because what if this keeps up? What happens when I get really tall? I become Tallest, that's what! I don't want to be a Tallest! And right now I working in that direction!" Well that certainly was a mouthful for such a little, well, not so little anymore smeet. Noah had to take deep breaths for a minute to calm down enough to relax.

Zim waited to make perfectly sure he was done with his speech before continuing with his "therapy" session. "So, how does that make you feel?" Zim began fighting back the laughter that was about to roar out of him, he had to bite his tongue to keep himself even sort of composed.

Noah pursed his lips and scowled, how would it make him feel? Way too responsible! He was still considered a smeet and would be for about a few more Earth months. He was in no condition to be a Tallest! "What do you mean how does it make me feel?"

"What is goin' on in here?" Aneera walked into the living roon with her hands on her hips, eyes widening when they landed upon Noah and his new height. "What happened to you?" She asked, walking towards them to sit down.

That's when Zim let out the raging laughter that was built up inside of him, laughter that made him gasp for air and hold his mid-section because he was in so much pain. His eyes soon began to water from so much pressure being forced out of his wind pipe, that's when the wheezing set it and he had a very hard time breathing.

"On second thought, what's wrong with you?" Aneera leaned away from Zim for a moment as he wrapped his arms around Noah to hold himself steady while his chest heaved and his eyes bulged. A smile was still present on his face as he recovered from his laughing fit

"Nothing, I'm okay." Zim whispered, still unable to talk. With a look of amusement crossing his face Aneera decided to sit down and shut up, hoping that she wouldn't start anything else bazaar.

"Really, you look aweful." Noah just couldn't help himself.

"I feel fine." Zim replied, looking up at Noah with bright red eyes.

"I do too but I know I don't look fine." Zim opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out, he didn't know what to say to that, it was halfway true, but he really was fine.

"Well, what's on today's agenda? I'm sure there must be something, the little display you've just put on almost guarantees an eventful day." Aneera had to laugh internally, there was no way she was gonna do out loud, not after what Zim had just gone through, it might start up something else.

"Um, I'm not really sure. What do you want to do?" Zim let go of Noah and literally dropped him on the floor, with intent or not wasn't really all that clear, he probably wasn't even paying attention.

It was strange because Zim didn't really think about much anymore, he just did. To Aneera he seemed to be getting more distant with each passing day, she could see it when she looked at him, his eyes were usually somewhere far off. He was stressed a lot too so she told herself he was just over worked but it couldn't hide the fact there was something going on. Zim was changing right before her eyes and she was a little scared, the person she loved most was slowly slipping away from her it seemed.

She knew she'd never openly admit this to anyone, especially to Zim, but it seemed that soon he'd be gone and she wouldn't have him anymore. They never _really _spent time with each other much now, it pained her in a few ways, knowing that every day they were growing apart instead of closer like she thought they should. She knew they didn't live in a fairy tale but all she ever wanted was a happily ever after, just like any other sensible person right? Unfortunately there were people trying to get in the way of that and she might not get her wish, she may not get the one thing she ever wanted from life.

But she couldn't think of such things now, they were together right now and there was nothing that could change that, she was going to enjoy it while she still could.

All she could bring herself to do was smile as she climbed into his lap, motioning for Noah to join them. He did, not eagerly because he knew where this was going to lead, but obeyed. Once they were sitting together Aneera wrapped one arm around Noah and the other around Zim, keeping them close was what mattered most to her, so that's what she did.

Zim looked up and tilted his head to one side, trying to understand the reason behind her sudden need of attention. She didn't answer, instead she got comfortable and closed her eyes, telling him that there was no need for conversation.

Noah sat quietly, wondering the same thing, she wasn't usually like this. To him, something seemed a bit off, one tiny piece of the puzzle didn't quite fit right. He knew she couldn't possibly be sick or anything like that, he didn't think Irkens could even get sick, so what was wrong? Or was there anything _wrong_ at all? Did she just need the feeling of being close to someone else who cares?

Neither questioned as to why she was acting as such but they did wonder, however, she looked happy enough, if only they knew what was really happening, if only.

Because inside she was so different from what anyone had ever seen, it was something no one else could understand. Her feelings, her thoughts, her unique emotions, it was all incomprehensible to others but herself.

No, right now she hurt on the inside, she just hurt so much at the moment, and it was because she was happy that she hurt. She didn't really know why but it didn't make her want it to stop, like she didn't mind being in pain. Internally she felt that she was always crying and that it was a continuous thing, it only slowed but never stopped.

She was in pain but for others and not herself, she was hurting for others that she cared about. She knew that when this war started that they'd be thrust right in the middle of it. What pained was accepting the fact that she may not live through it, she might not make it out alive.

She couldn't imagine them living without her, or vise verse. Her being gone just didn't compute, it couldn't happen.

And yet, to her it seemed almost certain.

She knew she was going to die, she just hoped she was wrong and held on to the faith that she still had.

* * *

Aneera: Wow, updating at last, I'm almost better! Almost not sick!

Zim: GAH! Get back! Filthy!

Aneera: Drama Queen!

Zim: Don't you mean King?

Aneera: No, you're wearing a dress.

Zim: It's a uniform.


	12. John Hammond And Jurassic Park

The door opened and closed a second later as Zim and Aneera came in the house, their teeth chattering and antennae quivering. As the door closed a rush of cold air sweeped across the floor and the essence of winter filled the room.

"Winter." Zim scoffed, he hated the holidays, it made his inner kid resurface, Christmas was _not_ his favourite holiday.

"Yeah, winter." Aneera held her hands up to her mouth and blew hot air on them, they'd been frozen solid ever since they left the house.

"Have fun?" Noah looked over and started to laugh at what he saw, sometimes they really were a sight to see. By the looks on their faces something had happened and by the way they glared it wasn't good.

"Don't ask." Zim huffed and sat down with his arms still wrapped around his shoulders, he did not look happy at all.

Zim and Aneera had left earlier that day to go talk with the Professor about the speech that was to be made later the same day. Well, they had forgotten how far into December that they were and that the air outside was about forty-seven degrees. Of course with the matters at hand they wouldn't give the weather a second thought and so a jacket was not brought and they practically froze to death.

Noah once again smiled and reached behind him to get the blanket off the bck of the couch. He unfolded it and wrapped it aorund Aneera's shoulders, only to realize there was only one blanket and two people.

Zim turned his head and quietly hissed to himself, hugging himself tighter to warm himself faster, the cold made him terribly irritated. Not that he meant to be so cross with everyone but he was known all over the universe for his temper. He decided to end his misery and just walked upstairs to get his own blanket, if nobody was going to be nice enough to get one for him than phooey on them!

"What's his problem?" Noah watched as Zim disappeared into his room with a scowl on his face.

"The cold makes him moody." Aneera shook her head and smiled to herself.

"IT DOES NOT!" Zim called, walking back out and closing the door. He came out with a big thick blanket around his shoulders that dragged on the floor behind him.

Gir then came bounding into the room with a plate full of cookies that were covered in frosting and sprinkles. "I made cookies!" He stuck his tongue out and smiled stupidly while he watched Zim sit down away from everyone else. He glared as Gir approached him with the platter full of cookies, wanting nothing more than to shoved him away from himself.

"Sigh, for once, just once, if you could be carring and considerate." Aneera stood and walked over to Zim who just glared at her, wanting to be left alone.

Just because he didn't act like it he did love her, sometimes he just wanted nothing more than to be alone, he got moody when he didn't get what he wanted.

"What?" he snapped. This only made Aneera smile wider and she sat next to him, wrapping her slender arms around his neck. Zim squirmed where he sat and groaned, why did she had to be loving now? Why not later? When he was in a _good_ mood?

"I love you." With that she closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder while Noah just sat and watched the whole thing. Zim rolled his eyes and looked down at her, suddenly feeling guilty about snapping.

"Mmmm, why do you do this to me?" he asked, twisting himself around so that he was more comfortable.

Aneera didn't answer, she just laughed and held him tighter, she was happy and that couldn't be changed, no matter what was said. Though Zim acted like a brat sometimes, deep down she knew that he loved her so she knew it had nothing to do with her when he was upset at something.

"Sigh, I love you too." he whispered so only she could hear.

"Are you guys done yet because I'm going to bed. Good night!" Noah smiled happily at the two and walked upstairs and into Zim's bedroom for a good night's sleep.

""Night." Zim right then and there fell asleep, not another thought wavered on the day ahead.

* * *

The next morning was slow and all three of the Irkens were still tired, no matter how much sleep they had gotten it just didn't seem to be enough for any of them. Aneera had laid in Zim's arms for about two hours before she woke him up and they went to their separate rooms for the night. Zim had to take another hour before he fell to sleep again and he woke up twice during the night due to nightmares for the horrid events that lay ahead.

Once breakfast was fianlly eaten and they were properly dressed they were fully awake and anxious to get this over with. It was sure to be a hectic day, a speech in front of millions of people and things that needed to be explained so that Earth could prepare for the war.

In fact, they had to leave in an hour and make an appearance on the news channel, ugh, that was going to be torture. Complete. Total. Utter. Torture.

"Are we all ready to go?" Zim came in from the kitchen with a huge fake smile on his face, he really didn't want to do this but he'd get killed if he didn't. Aneera was very particular about what she asked of him, it was never much but it better get done, or else.

"As we'll ever be." Noah said, who was now at a height of four feet, eight inches tall, he grew another seven inches overnight. No matter how many times Zim said his growth spurt was over he seemed to shoot up an inch or two right in front of his eyes just to throw it back in his face.

"Oh stop being so negative! I mean come on! We can't let Red win, ugh, just the thought of him makes me sick." Aneera visibly shuddered and stuck out her tongue in disgust, even saying the name made her want to barf.

Zim cocked his head to one side and looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. "You seem a little on edge, something bothering you?" He stepped forward and lowered his head a bit to try to get a better look at her. Once she looked up he could tell she was just uncomfortable about being in front of a million people, who wouldn't be?

"Yeah, just a bit nervous." She stood up a bit straighter and smiled sheepishly.

"Nervous?" Zim smiled back and put his hands on his hips.

"What?" So she got a little stage fright! He didn't have to make fun of her, at least, he didn't have to rub it in and laugh. After she waited a moment she noticed that he never laughed, he just smiled and shook his head.

"And you were calling me a scardey Irken on our wedding night but you freak out when you have to make an appearance in front of a few people?" Aneera looked up and scowled. Zim stopped smiling and looked away, regretting what he just said.

"And? What's your point?" she spat, glaring daggers at him, not even noticing as Noah sat and watched, giggling the whole time.

Zim didn't answer her question, so instead he walked over to her and wrapped both arms around her shoulders. That's when he heard Noah giggling in the background. "What are you laughing at?"

"Someone's having mood swings!" he sang, trying his best not to fall off the couch from laughter.

Zim looked away and let go of Aneera, turning around so that he couldn't look at Noah. He was his father, he shouldn't be insulting him. Zim just decided to take a deep breath and clam down, either the weather was getting to him or his nerves were going on a strike. After taking a moment of composing himself Zim turned back around and smiled.

"Can we go now?" Noah asked, laying on his back and not caring who answered. He honestly didn't care if anyone heard him but an answer would be nice, even if it didn't have anything to do with what he asked.

"But we still have forty-five minutes! Why would you want to leave now?" Aneera walked over and sat next to his head, then realizing he had his eyes closed so he probably didn't notice.

"Because as entertaining as it is to watch you two fight like an old couple I really would like to get out of the house for a change, being cooped up in here is starting to get to me." He then opened his eyes and smiled, moving around a bit so that his head was lying in his mother's lap. "Heh heh, old couple. Ha, I crack myself up." He really did crack himself up sometimes.

"Alright fine, we'll leave in-" Zim looked up and glared at the door, that stupid knock had ceased him from making an ingenious point! Okay, so it didn't, but it had cut him and he still hated that. "Who could that be?" He walked over to the door and opened it a little.

"Hi! Can I come in? You know what, never mind, we need to go!" Dib smiled and started to back up towards Gaz's car, who waiting with a very annoyed look on her face.

"Dib? What do you mean? What is going on? Now? But-" Zim looked back at the other two who had gotten the hint and walked out the door past him.

"No time to talk, let's go! The news crew wants you there early!" Dib had now decided to try another tactic so he was currently pushing Zim from behind, shoving him out of the house and over to the car where Gaz still impatiently waited. "Would it kill you to loose some weight? Jeez! You are so heavy!"

That caught Zim's attention and his antennae perked right up and he scowled at Dib, but didn't bother to turn around and look at him, he just glared ahead of him. "Hey! I'm not fat!" Zim planted his feet firmly on the ground, causing Dib to smack face first into Zim's PAK.

"Ow! Well, too bad! Come on! You're being stubborn! We need to get going!" Dib began to shove him but Zim wouldn't move, he wasn't getting any answers so he wasn't moving until he did. "If you don't move your fat butt we're all going to get yelled at! Now MOVE!"

Both Aneera and Noah, who were now safely seated in the back of the car started giggling and looked away, not wanting to be found out.

"Why do they want us there so early?" Zim had begun to inch forward but he still had about five feet between him and the car and Dib was getting tired at this point.

"Because! Why should I know! All I know is that if we don't get there in fifteen minutes we're all in serious trouble!" Finally, Zim started to move! Dib let go and started to pant as he climbed into the front with Gaz, making Zim take the back.

For the whole drive nobody said anything, the wind was too loud anyways, Gaz had decided to take her Convertable. Also, it looked like it was going to rain so everybody was busy praying that they'd be spared and not end up going on live TV with smoke rolling off them. But at least it wasn't deafeningly quiet, there was the wind to break the would-be silence.

It only took about ten minutes to get there, the news crew said fifteen minutes because they thought Gaz might get lost or not be able to find it. But seriously, it was the kind of building that was hard to miss, even if you tried. There was a giant red '16' on it, with the words 'Your Number One News Station' in blue underneath, unmissable really.

The three aliens stepped out and looked up at the building, it had to be at least twenty stories high if not more. "Hey! Come one!" They all looked over at Dib as he started walking around towards the back entrance. Zim grabbed Aneera's collar and dragged her along while she continued to stare at the gargantuan building.

They headed around until they found a door marked 'Employee Entrance', strange, you'd think their employee's would at least be able to use the front doors, huh. Dib walked forward and opened the door and suddenly a short, fat old man came out yelling at someone behind him.

"And make sure you filter the air three times got it!? We don't want them getting sick!" He then turned around and smiled at Dib. "Dibby, my boy! You made it!" He ushered the boy inside, ignored the sister and looked over at the other three, smiling more than ever. "Zim! Good to see you!"

Zim could only stare while his antennae instantly drooped, the man instantly reminded him of John Hammond, that one guy from 'Jurassic Park', a really good read but, Hammond always creeped Zim out, he was just _too_ happy.

John Hammond was the founder of Jurassic Park, the whole island was his idea, an island full of dinosaurs. Hammond never listened whenever someone tried to point out the flaws in his island or with his dinosaurs, he thought it was perfect. John Hammond, in one word, a nutcase. Always thought that nothing could go wrong, but, of course, it did. He just refused to believe it.

So already, Zim had a weird feeling about this guy, but he didn't say anything yet. He then smiled and walked forward, motioning fot the two behind him to follow, which they did, hesitantly but they followed.

"Come on in, it's about to rain!" the old man said smiling, waving them inside the building eagerly. Once they were all inside and safe from the acid they all noticed something. The air was clean... _too_ clean. And everyone was working like they were trying not to notice the three aliens that just barged into the room.

Zim felt like he was in the book now, everyone seemed paranoid, like some giant t-rex was going to bust through the ceiling at any moment. That's when the short guy looked up and noticed the way Zim was acting.

"You look sick, something wrong?" Zim looked down and smiled back, not wanting him to do anything weird, like start shouting that Zim was dying of some alien sickness.

"No, I'm fine, it's just, they all look paranoid." Zim pointed at the poeple up in the balcony that were running around with stacks of papers in their arms. Some were working at computers and everyone else was yelling at them to be alert and pay attention.

"Oh them? Nah, they're just not used to having... company. That's all!" The sort man suddenly looked up and watched as a tall, skinny woman came running at them with a disapproving look on her face.

"What have I told you about harrassing the guests? You're going to scare them!" The woman continued to rant but the short man just held up his hand and made little 'blah' noises, indicating he didn't care about what she was saying. "Sigh, will you please go find something else to do or someone else to yell at?"

"Aw, come on Stephanie! Lighten up! If anyone needs something else to do it's Jack, he wont shut up. Keeps yelling at my employee's like he owns the place!" the man said sternly, them shuffling off towards the balcony. "Well, see you three later!" and with that, he was gone.

"I'm sorry, I hope he didn't bother you, he's been like this for the past forty-eight hours." Stephanie rolled her eyes and smiled, obviously relaxing the group very much.

"Oh no, I found him quite entertaining." Zim replied, still looking in the direction he had watched the man leave in.

"Well, we don't have anymore time to waste, follow me please." Stephanie gave them another quick smile and escorted them deeper into the building.

Aneera hadn't said a word since they've arrived, mostly because she didn't know what to say. She was afraid of scaring someone, they all looked on edge already, saying the wrong thing might send them into a spazzing fit or something. As she walked silently next to Zim she made sure to keep her hands on his arm, just in case something happened.

Noah on the other hand, couldn't help but feel sorry for everyone, they looked scared and confused, like they really didn't want to be there at the moment. But he didn't say anything, once they were there for a while maybe everyone might start to loosen up a bit, the three of them were just as uncomfortable as everyone else was.

Up ahead Zim could make out the familiar black scythe lock on Dib's head, he instantly felt much better, having the human around calmed his nerves greatly. As they approached he could see a set that was surrounded by cameras, people and the feeling of being watched, but Zim wasn't as mortified as Aneera was bound to be, she got stage fright easily, the poor thing.

Though it really amazed Zim, with all of the times she had to make an appearance with the Tallest in front of so many Irkens one would think she'd be used to that kind of thing. But that was probably because she was with people who could tell anyone to shut up, in case they started laughing or pointing.

"Well, here we are, you have, oh, about twenty minutes before we start, if you need something talk with Dib okay?" and then she was gone, just like that.

Dib began to look around at the loud mention of his name, then his eyes landed upon the three unhappy Irkens. "Hey guys, whoa, you don't look so good." he said smiling.

"It's these people, they seem afraid of us." Zim pointed out, not liking the fact that he's unnerving so many people.

"Oh they are, but don't worry about them, they'll get over it. So, what do you want to do, we got twenty minutes." Dib rested his arm on Zim's unoccupied shoulder and looked at him, waiting for an answer.

"Let me ask you something, you seem to know all these people, how?" Though Zim felt more comfortable with having a close friend that knew all these people he couldn't figure out why. It's not like he would just come in here everyday and chat, would he?

"Well, when you're dad is a famous scientist he appears on the news a lot, so I've been here more than once." Dib then cringed, obviously that thought didn't settle well with him for some reason.

"Makes sense." After that the four of them just walked around while Dib gave them all a breife tour of the place and pointed out several different people. Though this was most likely pointless it did pass the time, and soon everyone was hollering at everyone else.

"Well, looks like that's your cue, have fun!" Dib smiled and shoved them all over to the set, waving happily for encouragement and support.

They all looked around and began to get nervous until someone with a mic came over and told them to sit down.

"Don't worry, just forget about the cameras and you'll be fine!" she said, and then it started.

* * *

Aneera: DUN DUN DUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cliffie!

Zim: You are a very evil person. YOU PUT ME IN FRONT OF MILLIONS OF PEOPLE WITHOUT A DISGUISE!!!!

Aneera: Will you relax?

Zim: NO!

Aneera: Fine. SECURITY! RESTRAIN HIM!

Zim: NO!!! You can't make me!!! Let go of me you HUMAN FILTH!!!!! GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME! I AM ZIIIIIMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!


	13. Gone Global

The bright lights flashed on and the beeps of nearby machinery echoed off the walls, the cameras were operating and the majority of the people were sitting still behind computers. It was amazing that none of them had fainted yet, a miracle even!

Then one of the crew members held up his hand and started counting down with his fingers, mouthing the words from five to two, then he turned and just watched. It all happened in what seemed like slow motion, the three aliens were disoriented and confused, worried and paranoid, nervous and just about ready to pass out on camera.

But they showed no sign of any of that, they just sat still and smiled for the cameras, on live TV.

"Hello and good afternoon! I'm Tina King and tonight we have some very special guests." (bring on the cheese) Tina turned and smiled at the three aliens, who were completely exposed on national TV, meaning everyone who was watching would see them out of disguise.

Zim almost barfed right on camera, he felt so sick at the moment he could die. Just about the only thing that kept him going was Dib holding his thumbs up and smiling like an idiot, but Steve helped out some too.

_I'm gonna die! __**Stop thinking like that! **__I can't help it! __**You're gonna have to! **__*groans* Fine._

"For a long time most people on Earth have been wondering about the existence of aliens, are they real? Where are they? Well tonight we're finally going to get some answers."

Noah sat farthest away from Tina but closest to the bright lights. When they had come on he didn't hear the lead cameraman tell everyone to close their eyes. So now he was sitting next to his mom looking like an idiot because he kept blinking his eyes, trying to make the white spots go away from his vision. Then there was a sudden mention of his name and so he looked around his mom to find the origin of the voice.

"So, where exactly are you from?" Tina's constant smile bothered Zim a little bit, it was just so... unnatural. Like she was forcing herself not to scream and throw the mic at him.

"Well, it's a little red planet called Irk that's about six month's travel from here." Zim replied. Already he could feel the anxiousness to get out of the building, he was not enjoying this one bit... at all.

"Interesting." Tina said slowly, she wasn't quite sure as to what to make of the name... Irk... doesn't that mean bothersome? "So why are you here?"

_Of course, the whole 'why are you here and what are you gonna do to us' series of questions._

"Well, I've been here more than once actually. The first time I was sent here on a fake mission to blow this place up but I just couldn't do it. So I came back a while later to pick someone up," He pointed to Aneera. "But after that I kind of stayed... It's a cool planet but you sort of have to step back a little to fully appreciate it though. So now, I'm saving it."

"Really? Saving it from what?" It was amazing that Tina hadn't gone completely hysterical yet, she had a lot of willpower.

"The rest of our planet and their leader." Zim refrained form called Red his leader or Tallest, now he just called him Red or 'Our people's leader'.

"Are they planning an attack or something?" Okay, now she looked a bit worried, not quite like she was going to run off into the night screaming 'We're all doomed!' but you could tell that she didn't like this conversation.

"We don't really know, that's why we're here, to warn the rest of the world so that they can prepare themselves. I really don't think that it's going to be all that hard to win, a huge weakness we have is your water. It's so polluted and filthy that it actually burns our skin on contact, so a standard water gun will do." Zim smiled a bit and internally sighed when Tina relaxed a bit.

"So how do you deal with the rain? I mean, it rains a lot around here, it most be troublesome." Tina's voice sounded a bit curious this time, so at least she wasn't so freaked about a full scale alien invasion anymore.

"If it's just a drizzle then I'll wait it out but if it's like pouring or something than I either stay home or steal my friend's umbrella, whichever works." That time Zim couldn't really hold back the snicker when he looked at Dib's face.

"You still owe me one!" he mouthed, pointing at Zim.

Even Tina seemed to be a bit amused by all of this, surprisingly. "Okay then. So what's it like on your planet?"

"I hate it." Zim replied instantly. "I really do, it's just one big, fat city. Seriously, and there is never anywhere to park! It's just over crowded all of the time, it bothers me muchly."

"I never had a problem with it being crowded." Aneera leaned over and looked at him like he was just that stupid.

Zim turned and glared."Yes but you can fly... could fly so to you it would be a moot point." Zim quickly corrected himself, he forgot that she could no longer fly, how sad.

Aneera said no more and sat back, going back to just barely listening listening to the conversation. Instead she decided to slap Noah upside the head to help him with his vision problem.

"Interesting, can all of you fly?" Tina happened to catch the part about the girl being able to 'fly', as Zim put it.

"No, just me, I'm special." Aneera leaned over and smiled a bit toothy smile, by now she had forgotten all about the cameras. In fact, she felt as though she were having a normal conversation with someone.

"I see, well I must ask you something. What do you say about the Roswell Incident?" Tina wasn't really sure if any of them had ever heard of Rowell, but you'll never know unless you ask.

"You mean that one little town called Roswell? And the reports of an alien space ship crash landing in the field? Pffft, true. I thought it was kind of amusing when the government passed it off as a top secret weather balloon. I mean, who in their right mind would believe that?" Zim really couldn't understand how people could possibly pass a UFO for a weather balloon.

"I thought so, a weather balloon just didn't seem quite right to me. Anyways," she said with a small chuckle. "What would you advise to the people, now that we're dealing with beings from other worlds?" Now she sounded quite serious, making a shiver run down Zim's spine.

"Uh well," He looked back to the others, then back at Tina. "Personally, just because I know what this guy is capable of, I strongly suggest that people stay indoors as much as possible. Also, it would be a good idea to have cups of water spread through the house, just in case."

Tina nodded, then proceeded with her questions. "What about you three? How do you plan on defending yourselves?"

"Well, based on she sheer fact that this whole planet is covered in acid he wont send many people to actually land, probably a small scale army at the most. We've decided to stay on an island that I've found, we should be somewhat safe there." Zim nodded to himself, pleased by his answer.

"What happens if they do happen to land and plan an attack?" Tina seemed a tad bit worried again.

"I wouldn't worry about that so much, he doesn't want to attract attention to himself so he probably wont go anywhere but the island. Plus, his army is too precious to put in danger." Aneera leaned over Zim and put on the most reassuring expression she could muster.

"Well at least you seem confident. So, say he does come. What are you going to do?"

"Lock him in a closet and bring out the lasers and rocket launchers." Zim smiled and glanced back at Noah to see if he heard. Judging by the strange look on his face Zim would have to say that he had.

"What? What'd I do?" Noah peered over at him and honestly thought he'd done something wrong. When Zim just grinned and shook his head Noah decided that it wasn't important.

"Do you have anyone on your side?" Tina asked thoughtfully, almost sounding is she ws truley concerned about them.

"Well, we do have a few people, not enough though. I have considered asking a few Elfidians that I know, they're extremely good fighters, built for it actually." Zim kind of spaced out for a minute in thought so Aneera took over for him.

"So do you think you'll be able to fend them off?" Tina sounded worried still.

"Sure, he's not _that_smart. Besides, we have the advantage. I don't think he quite gets the fact that water burns and most of this planet is covered in it." Aneera smiled cheerfully and shoved Zim off to the side so she could talk.

"Huh, I suppose that's a good thing then." Tina smiled too, not wanting to look so nervous on camera.

* * *

For the next hour or so Tina asked a few questions about how they were all related, details of the normal Irken lifestyle and so on. There were a few questions about the different appearance such as the antennae and lack of a nose and a few fingers. Of course there was the question of the function of the PAK and as to why Noah didn't have one.

Aneera had now completely forgotten about the cameras, and she did do her best answer all of the questions she could, though some of them required her to to consult Zim for a little help. Other than that she did pretty well, she actually didn't make a fool of herself.

Soon it was over and they were all alowed to go home and rest. Gaz had taken the liberty of driving them back home so that they could plan for the safety of planet Earth.

Other than that nothing spectacular happened for the next week or so, except that it was snowing on a regular basis now.

* * *

The days came and quickly went in what seemed like a few seconds to the small family. They constantly watched the news on several channels, including all of the Irken news channels. To them, it was amazing at how many people were scared and confused, the broadcast had gone global and everywhere from Japan to Mexico was a busy mess, especially Tokyo.

But so far everyone had been able to contain themselves and just accept the fact that there are other beings out in space, though it was hard. For some it changed the entire way they looked at life, for others it changed the way they looked at their religion and for a select few they had gone completely neutral.

But at least they knew what to do and now Earth had a better chance at survival and Red didn't know it. Now if only they could get a few more recruits, maybe that would help some, if not a lot.

By this time it was the day before Christmas Eve and the only two who seemed to care, or even notice were Gir and Minimoose. They had put up a tree and there were actually a few presents under it, though the chances of it actually having something in it was probably very small.

All in all there wasn't much activity going on in the house anymore. Aneera spent her time talking with everyone she knew, hoping to get a few more soldiers. Zim was always in the communications room, contacting anyone he knew and Noah spent the majority of his time in a small room that he had found that consisted of a rack of really nice guitars, a computer, a stereo system, a mic and an expensive looking drum set, which he was really fond of.

Then there was Gir and Minimoose. They stayed upstairs and did Christmas related things, like bake cookies for Santa, wrap possible non-existant presents and hung up a few decorations, though it was limited to just the living room, that was it.

It was nice though because Gir dressed up like Santa and he gave Minimoose a red nose so he could be Rudolph, and then a hat for Christmas spirit. They had a great time together, but they missed everyone terribly, they weren't around much anymore.

Minimoose especially missed the company of Noah, the two had gotten quite close since his Master and Mistress had school to attend to and he wouldn't go anywhere near Gir. But he refrained himself from searching the base, he didn't want to disturb anyone if they were busy. Unlike Gir, Minmoose was conscientious of other people and hated to be a burden.

So for the rest of Christmas Eve's eve Gir and Minimoose decorated the living room for Christmas day, the only thing they wanted was their family but decorating was something to do.

And that night, that's what they prayed for, family.

* * *

Aneera: Please don't hurt me, I'm so so so so so so so so so so sorry this took so long!!! I've been sick, up to my head in homework and I just did not have the time!

Zim: You forgot about me didn't you?

Aneera: No! I didn't forget about anybody! You know I love you too much to forget about you.

Zim: Sorry I asked.

Aneera: Well, I should be able to get the Christmas chapter up in time for Christmas, hopefully a couple days before if I'm lucky. So anywho, Review! Review! Review!

Zim: And I'm special too!

Aneera: Tch, more like Special Ed.


	14. What Is Christmas?

"WOOT! IT'S CHRISTMAS EVE!" Gir screamed as he came in from the kitchen with his arms flailing around his head as he ran. He entered the living room and suddenly stopped, there was no one else in the room, it was empty. "Where did everybody's go?" He began to turn around in circles, looking for somebody that might have heard him.

"Nya." Minimoose replied groggily. He floated into the living room from underneath one of the couch cushions, he was very sleepy.

"What's do you mean too early? It's Christmas Eve's! It's not too early!" Gir pouted and looked at Minimoose as he crossed is arms, there was no such thing as too early when it came to the holidays, at least, not by Gir's standards.

"Nya!" Minimoose pointed a stubby paw towards the landing on the second floor and glared at Gir.

"I know they isn't up, but they should be! I's gonna go wake 'em up!" A broad smile spread across Gir's face and he dashed up the stairs to go wake up the others.

"SQUEAK!" Minimoose quickly floated in front of him and glared so hard at the little robot that his smile faded to nothing. "Nya!" He then began to push Gir back down the stairs so that they both could get some more rest, it was only seven in the morning.

"But, but can I wake them up tomorrow's? They need to get upin times for CHRISTMAS!" Gir went willingly but still continued to argue, he was bored and nobody would play with him.

Minimoose shoved him onto the couch and left, leaving poor Gir by himself. "Computer?"

"Whaaaaaaaaat? What could you possibly want at this hour?" Okay, so the computer was mean, he's not a morning person!

"Who else is up? I is bored!" Acting like the five-year-old he is Gir started pouting again and gave a loud 'humph', he was not happy. He waited patiently while the computer came up with an answer.

"Uuhhhhh," Okay, so Noah was up, but Zim didn't like Gir bothering him much, it made him moody. So he could tell Gir the truth and most likely pay for it later. Or he could lie and save himself the trouble from Zim but then have to deal with Gir who probably wont leave him alone. "Master Noah is on the fourth level down." Oh his poor circuits, he could feel the pain already.

"Yeeeeee! Take me to him!" Gir squealed with delight and hopped on to the elevator, finally, someone that might play with him! The floor beneath him descended into the lower levels and soon stopped in a hall. "Master?" he called, listening to echo as his voice bounced back to him.

"Um, he's down the hall to the left in the studio." He was going to pay so bad for this, but it couldn't be worse than having to listen to Gir for two hours, that was usually complete torture.

"WEEEEEEEE!" Gir took off down the hall and randomly pulled out a rubber piggy from his head, then screamed, "TEA PARTY!" Oh that poor little boy, let's all take a minute and pray for his poor unfortunate soul... Okay.

Gir reached the end of the hall and peeked around the corner to his left, spying the door with the word 'STUDIO' on it, bingo! "Hehehehehe!" With a big stupid smile he casually walked over to the door and threw it open, almost being thrown onto his back.

Noah was sitting behind the drum set while banging on the drums in front of him. There were about five speakers behind him that had to have been six feet tall. Sound was blasting from the speakers and Gir had a hard time standing up straight, the noise was so loud it about knocked him off his feet.

"MASTER!" Gir screamed, trying to get Noah's attention, but of course he didn't hear, the music was too loud, it was a wonder his antennae didn't fall out. "MASTER!"

Noah continued to sit and play, completely oblivious to the fact that anything was going on, he was too into his music. So he ignored Gir while the little robot continued to call his name and wave his arms around. Then Gir got an amazing idea, he climbed up the drum set and sat on one of he drums, watching as Noah still refused to notice him.

"MASTER!" Gir called again, still nothing happened, he went unnoticed like the last fifteen times he called out to the small boy. "WILL YOU PLAY WIF MEH!?" To be honest, he would probably get better results screaming at a brick wall... or possibly a squirrel, they don't like him much. But just as he opened his mouth to yell something else he got whacked on the top of the head with one of the drumsticks, making him go cross-eyed and his mouth get like a zig-zag.

Noah stopped playing and turned around to shut off the stereo, something was wrong, snare drums don't sound like that. That's when he realized that a small and now very dizzy robot was sitting in front of him. "Oh, sorry Gir, I guess I didn't see you."

Tch, no duh.

"Hi! Will you play wif meh? I is bored! OH OH OH! We still got's to finish decoratin' da house! Well, Master said just the living room but IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!" For Gir, this was pretty darn amazing, his grammar was off but the length of the response was actually kind of long.

"Eh?" Oh yeah, Noah didn't know what Christmas was, or Halloween, or Valentine's Day, or Thanksgiving, or St. Patrick's Day, or New Year's Day, or April Fool's Day, or the Fourth Of July... or Easter.

Gir stared wide eyed at him for a minute, he just could not believe what he was hearing. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT CHRISTMAS IS!?"

"What's a Christmas?" Noah had now decided to give his poor, aching, quivering antennae a rest and followed Gir up to the house.

"Christmas is when you get presents! And you eat fruit cake! And you sing songs! And you spend time wif your family! And... what else? Oh yeah! If you get's caught under da mistletoe wif someone you got's to kiss that person! Hehehehehehehehe!" God love him, he tries so hard. But for some reason he usually ends up making wonderful things sound... not so wonderful.

"Uuuhhhhhh, okay." Noah was pretty sure that Christmas was supposed to be a day filled with happiness and joy, but the way Gir made it sound, happiness and Joy just didn't seem to fit into the mix.

"We wish you a merry jingly, we wish you a merry jingly, we wish yoooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuu," For the whole ride in the lift this continued and Noah thought he was going to loose his ever lovin' mind, he was so grateful when it stopped.

"Where have you been?" It was Aneera, she was in the kitchen with a wooden spoon in one hand and a bowl in the other. The smell that wafted from her direction had Gir coming in leaps and bounds.

Noah looked up and ignore the question, the living room looked different, there was a giant glittering tree next to the TV and red bows were placed along the railing of the stairs and landing. Then there was a huge red and green woven rug in the middle of the floor, the TV had a picture of a fire place on it and the smell of peppermint and pine filled the room, along with some gingerbread. Also, he noted the many pots of red flowers that were set about the room and the strange looking plant with white berries and pointed leaves that hung from the ceiling between the kitchen and living room.

"What is all this?" It must be fore Christmas but he heard no music, smelled nor fruit, saw so presents and there was no kissing of any sort going on. So he could be wrong.

"Ain't y'all never heard of Christmas?" She turned towards him and gasped, almost dropping the bowl in her arms to an awaiting Gir.

Noah couldn't really think of anything to say to that, it was the weirdest thing she had ever said, and she's said some weird things. So he just stepped an inch or two away from her and sheepishly smiled. "Guess not."

"I tolded him all about Christmas!" Gir screeched from the floor, he was now watching the TV.

"I was afraid of that." If she could "roll" her eyes and people could tell, she probably would have, but knew it was pointless. So Aneera stuck with mixing her dough and keeping to herself.

"MASTER! YOU'RE UP!" Everyone flinched from the high pitched squeal that emitted from the androids mouth. He was looking up at the top of the stairs with his big, stupid smile like always.

All eyes shifted from whatever they were looking at before to Zim, who was slowly making his way down the stairs. His eyes were only half open and he did not look too happy, not at all.

"Goodmorning, you feeling okay?" Some how she knew this wasn't because of a bright and cheerful morning, even if it was Christmas Eve.

"Fine actually, why? Do I look awful?" He tried to smile he really did, but he was just way too tired to make it very big. Instead he gave her a kiss and took a pinkie's worth of dough from the bowl without asking. "Mmmmmmm, cinnamon. You making cookies?"

"Chill out, they're for tomorrow." She then set the bowl on the counter and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Now, do you mind explaining to our son what Christmas is? I don't think Gir was very helpful."

Zim's eyes snapped open. "He tried to explain Christmas? That poor child."

"Yeah." Aneera pushed him forward and smiled to him. Having Zim, who almost completely destroyed Christmas one year, explain Christmas had to be better than watching Gir try to explain.

Zim happily walked over to where Noah was sitting and sat down next to him with a thoughtful smile. Christmas, not really a difficult topic, should be easy enough to explain. Of course, Noah hadn't grown up around the Christmas holiday so maybe it's not going to be so easy, but he could at least try.

"Now, Christmas is-" Noah put his hand over Zim's mouth for him to stop.

"Hold on just one second Dad." He then got up and stood behind Gir. Once he was sure the robot didn't notice him he picked him up by the head and carried him upstairs. With a bit of difficulty he opened Aneera's door and threw the hunk of metal into the room, then quickly shut the door.

"What was that?" Aneera poked her head out of the kitchen and looked up, though just a little too late.

"Uuuuhhhhhhh, nothing!" Noah put on his most innocent smile and made his way quickly down the stairs to the couch. Once he sat down he leaned back so he couldn't be seen and sighed a breath of relief, that was close, there was no telling what Gir would do to her room but it was too late now.

Zim blinked and turned back to Noah. "Well then, as I was saying, Christmas is known as a time of joy and-" Once again Zim was cut off by a very loud 'JOY!' that came from upstairs. "Joy and happiness. During Christmas the average person would stay home and spend time with family and friends."

"But what about presents?" He may not look like it but Noah can be a very good listener and as he recalled Gir did say something about presents.

"That was started by comercial business, but yeah, people get presents on Christmas." Zim shrugged and glanced towards the tree, surprised to see that there were actually a few presents under it.

"What about fruit cake? And singing?" That was mentioned too, wasn't it?

"Nobody likes the fruit cake and the singing get _seriously_annoying after a while, not my favorite holiday to be honest." Zim flicked his wrist and stuck his nose in the air.

"Oh, well what are we going to do tomorrow?" Noah looked up and smiled, maybe if he was lucky they could celebrate Christmas. Though, the upcoming war was really stressing everyone out so there was no telling really, they probably had other stuff that needed to be done.

Zim was about to answer with a 'Nothing special' when he was, for the third time, interrupted.

"What do you mean 'what are we going to do tomorrow'? We're going to celebrate Christmas! Just because we're in a heap of trouble doesn't mean we can't enjoy the holidays!" Aneera stood in the kitchen with her hands on her hips while still holding a cookie cutter.

"But!-" Zim began, they really didn't have any time for Christmas, there was far too much to do!

"Ah ah ah! Don't even go there! This time you are going to have a normal Christmas, just like everyone else!" How she shuddered at the thought of the ruined Christmas that she's heard so many stories about.

"Hey! Must I remind you that it wasn't all my fault!" Zim tried being defensive but it didn't help much.

Aneera held up her unoccupied hand and made him stop right where he was. "I really don't want to hear the story again, but I am not going to pass up the opportunity to show you how we Americans do things around here, especially during Christmas."

"American? You aren't American!" Zim couldn't believe his ears.

"Excuse me? I've been an American for most of my life thank you! Just because y'all don't celebrate nothin' on that pitiful ball of dirt doesn't mean you can't know what it's like! I'm sure with the two years I was gone you've had your share of the Christmas holiday but that's one thing, celebrating it is something totally different." Once the speech was over she had made her way over to the rest of them and was now sitting on the arm of the couch with her arms crossed.

The two boys just looked at her for a second, then at each other and back at her. "Um, okay then." Noah would have said more but the doorbell rang.

* * *

Aneera: Well, I'm gonna try to get my next chapter up in time for Christmas and if I don't... MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Zim: Bah Humbug!

Aneera: I JUST SAW THAT PLAY! I went to go see it earlier! Live theatre is so amazing! It was such a good play! And we got great seats! It was amazing, there had to be at least five hundred people, if not more!

Zim: Christmas is a bunch of HUMBUG!

Aneera: Aaawwwwww, don't be such a Scrooge!

Author: Yeah! Come on Zim! Don't be so sour! "A Christmas Carrol" is such a good play!

Zim: BAH HUMBUG!


	15. Merry Christmas!

"Who on Earth could that be?" Aneera set her cookie cutter on the table in the kitchen and walked back into the living room to open the door. When the door opened she instantly wished she had a jacket, it was freezing out there! "Oh, hey Dib! What are you doing out here in the cold? Why don't you come in where it's warm." She stepped aside to let the boy in so she didn't have to see him suffer anymore.

"Thanks, I think I was starting to get frost bite." Dib quickly walked in with his hands on his arms and his entire being shivering from the outside weather. His skin seemed to be a bit paler too, if that was even possible.

"You look awful," She put her hand to his cheek to see how cold he was and quickly pulled away. "And you feel even worse. Why don't you sit down and I'll get you a blanket." She led the poor shaking boy over to the couch and gently set him down so she could go get an extra blanket.

"But, I wont be here for long, you don't have to!" Dib hated to put her through any trouble at all, he didn't feel that anybody needed to wait on him.

Aneera paid him no mind and continued up the stairs to her room where she kept the blankets, she was not about to let that poor child freeze to death! She will not have it!

Zim eyed Dib for a long minute and cleared his throat to get his attention. Once Dib looked over at him he gave him a look that said something along the lines of "Don't _even_ think about it!"

"What!? I ain't done nothin'!" Dib cried, then, without warning or even his knowing, sneezed. In fact, he sneezed so hard it looked as if his face turned a little red for a second, probably from all of the pressure.

Then Aneera reappeared and began running down the stairs with a big, thick black blanket in her arms, a worried look took up most of her expression, that and concern. Sure she honestly hadn't known Dib for even a year yet but she hated to watch people shiver and shudder from the cold, she could help but be a bit motherly, it was her nature because, well, she _was_ a mother.

"What happened?" she asked as she draped the heavy blanket over the thin boys shoulders and sat between the two, looking a little evilly at Zim, almost positive that it was him, Noah wouldn't do anything, he hadn't even said anything yet.

"He gave this look, it was mean! Like he was silently scolding me for something I didn't do!" Dib pouted and held the blanket up and over his mouth, making him look so very innocent.

Aneera glared at Zim and slapped him on the arm, earning a hurt and confused look from him as he slunk back down into his seat. Then she turned back to Dib and put her arms around him to get him a little warmer, he was going back out in that horrid weather, he deserved to be cared for, the poor thing didn't even have a decent jacket!

Dib's face lit up like the Christmas tree across the room and he sunk down in the couch cushions, trying his best to hide the blush that was turning his whole face cherry red.

Zim, on the other hand, was _not_enjoying watching this little display at all, he felt neglected and slightly betrayed. Sure he cared a lot about Dib, they were best friends, but how can you view that person as your friend if you had your wife lovin' on him? It just wasn't right, he knew Aneera meant well and she just wanted to help, but did she honestly have to hug him and... cradle him like that? She never did that to Zim, actually, they haven't been spending a whole lot of time together recently and he really missed her.

Dib happened to notice the negative reaction that was greatly emitting from his best friend and sat up a little, also trying to ease Aneera off him a little bit. "Um, Zim?" There was no response. "I'm sorry, but, it wasn't my fault." Zim scoffed and turned his head in the opposite direction.

"Zim, will you stop being such a baby? Come on, it's the holidays. I mean, I don't really have to give you your present, but if you want it I suggest you lighten up." To Zim, this was something to listen to because it was strictly said. To Noah, she sounded really mad and wee bit scary.

So Zim was a bit surprised to hear that he got a present, but what was it? He didn't ask for anything... did he? He couldn't have, the only thing he ever asks for is "Honey, will you get that!?". So he was a bit shocked.

"Well, before it gets too late we shouldn't probably head over to my house for a little Christmas party. Besides, I don't want to make Gaz wait too long." Dib smiled and stood up, folded the blanket and then set it on the back of the couch.

"Party? Can we all come?" It was the first thing Noah had said since Dib had come.

Dib looked over at the now not-so-small child and said, "Of course you can all come!" After the question was answered he gestured to them all and headed for the door.

* * *

"GAZ! OPEN THE DOOR!" Dib had started to pound on the front door of his own house, either Gaz was sucked into the sound of her iPod or she just wanted him to suffer. Dib didn't believe that she knew he was not alone, she probably thought it was just him

The rest of them, Zim, Aneera, Noah and Gir, were standing behind him huddled close together to keep as warm as possible, it was insane at how cold it could get. And to top off the already deathly weather it had started to snow and the wind was picking up again, fast. It wouldn't take long until they all froze in ice blocks, only to be discovered by higher life forms.

Then, as if to answer a miracle, the door burst open to reveal an extremely dark and annoyed Gaz. "What do you want?" she asked bitterly, her muscles visibly tightened and she closed her eyes for a moment, obviously trying not to kill him during this perfect chance.

"I want to com IN! I have been standing out here for TEN MINUTES and I am **COLD**!" Dib's eyes twitched and he actually glared at Gaz, a somewhat scary thought, usually people would never challenge her like that.

"Well then shut up and get in." Then, with a dark mist following her steps, she quickly walked away, not bothering to say anything to the rest of them.

Not a word was said for the next two minutes or so, everyone quickly made their way into the house and kept close to one another so that they could warm up a bit quicker. Then as they slowly started to thaw out they moved about the room and sat down.

"So, what's this all about?" Zim looked at Gaz, who was in the kitchen, for an answer, maybe because it was Christmas she would be a tad bit nicer, maybe.

"It's Christmas stupid." Though it was like her usual short response it wasn't quite as darkly said, but that could be because she was talking to Zim.

"Well we figured-" Dib began, but Gaz cut him off before he could say much.

"You figured, this _was_ your idea." and that was it.

"Whatever! Since you guys have probably eaten we didn't cook anything, hope you don't mind. We-I mean _I_Thought we could just open presents and visit for a while, we don't see you much anymore." As he was saying this Dib got up and went over to sit in front of the Christmas tree.

Aneera looked over at Zim and he looked at her, they had forgotten their presents, how typical. Well they could always send Gir back to get them but it was awfully cold out there and-

"I BROUGHT PRESENTS TOO! I got's all of 'em!" That annoyingly cute little thing could be quite helpful sometimes, just because he's stupid. Then he popped open the lid of his head and out flew all of the presents, there was actually quite a few of them. And along with these gifts came a certain small moose that was wearing a red nose and a belt of bells.

"NYA!" he squeaked, translated to 'Merry Christmas!'. He floated over to his Master and took a nice, soft, warm, comfortable seat on his shoulder.

Dib just stared from the floor for a moment, that had been just a little bit weird, but he loved them anyways! Sure they were somewhat strange, but they came form a different planet, maybe a flying moose would be common on Irk, who knows. "Okay, well I wanna do our presents first!" Dib fished around for a specific present. "Ah-ha!"

"What?" Zim leaned over to get a better look at what the 'Ah-ha!' was all about, and was tem handed a small, rectangular present. "Ooh! Is it for me?"

"It's for all of you guys. It's from me by the way." Dib said blankly.

"... Good enough for me!" He tore off the paper and tossed the tissue paper aside to reveal a small framed photo. It was of the three and Tina when they were on the news set. Noah was disoriented, Zim was talking and Aneera was peering over at Noah questioningly. "Wow, I'm the only one who doesn't look like a total idiot! Sweet!"

Gaz looked up from her game in the kitchen and, without being notice, silently smirked to herself.

"Yeah, well here's one from Gaz, it's to the lovely and somewhat creepy and disturbing couple." Dib gave the two a cheesy smile and handed over another small box, but this time, to Aneera.

She was a bit neater in the opening of the gift but almost screamed when she saw what was inside. There were two concert tickets to go see Nickleback next week, plus it had front row seats, how sweet is that?

"How did you?-" Zim couldn't believe what he just saw, it was amazing!

"Well, you know, when your Dad is a famous scientist you get a pretty big allowance. And I know that with the little battle coming up you probably think that you wont have enough time. Well I was thinking that on Tuesday you can drop Noah off over here so that he'll have something to do and you call me when it's over and I'll drop him off." Dib smiled as innocently as he could.

"Dib, I don't know what to say! I mean, thank you so much!" Aneera set the box next to her and leaned over to give Dib a hug of appreciation, she was just so grateful.

Noah scowled at her and crossed his arms. "What, so you're going to abandon me? What kind of parents are you?"

"We aren't going to abandon you, we'll come back. We love you too much to leave you!" Doing her best to prove her opinion she gave him a hug too, making him smile and feel loved.

Gaz then got up and walked silently into the room with the rest of them, she wanted to see the rest of the presents and reactions. Since most of the spots were taken up she sat on the couch next to Noah, who had just gotten handed a present.

"Who's it from?" He took off the bow and proceeded to inspect the box for some sort tag or something.

Gaz quickly glanced over to see which one he had and answered, "It's from me." then went back to glaring at something else.

"Oh, thank you Gaz." He smiled and neatly opened the box as quickly as he could, eager to see what the gothic demon could have gotten him, they didn't know each other much and didn't hardly talk at all, so this might be interesting. Once the paper was off he opened the box and gawked at it for a moment.

"I thought so." she said, seeing the faint smile that started to make it's self known.

"How did you get the autograph!?" He continued to stare at his present. He had gotten a pair of drumsticks that were signed by the drummer of Green Day, his absolute favourite band. Then he looked over and smiled a bit bigger, but it soon disappeared. "I'd give you a hug but I'm scared that you'll hurt me."

Gaz sighed in defeat after about twenty seconds and held out one arm for the boy, but looked away.

Noah smiled again and lunged for her, wrapping his amrs around her waist and started repeatedly saying 'Thank you!'. He didn't realized that surprised and annoyed look on her face, she obviously had not expected that.

"You can get off now." she hissed, trying to gently push him away so that she wouldn't hurt his feelings or have Aneera all over her while snapping and yelling.

Noah released the troubled girl and resumed his previous spot on the couch next to his mom. "Oh, is it our turn? YAY!" Gir had finished sorting the presents and was now handing the first one to Gaz.

"It's from Master!" Like she was supposed to know who that was, but reading the tag always helps.

Of course, she should have know, Zim. Well this ought to be good, what could he possibly have that she would want for Christmas? She wasted no time in ripping the paper to poor shreds and she threw open the box, revealing a brand new GameSlave7, impressive. "Wow, and I thought it was going to be something stupid like bacon like it was four years ago."

"Be quiet! And a thank you would be nice!" Zim huffed and pointed while sinking into his seat a bit further, the 'Christmassy Bacon' had not been his most genius plan ever, it actually turned out quite painful.

"But it hasn't come out yet, how did you get it?" Gaz looked at him suspiceously for a moment, there was no way he could have gotten his hands on this, no way!

"I have my ways. Anyway," Zim then turned to Gir who had been dubbed the official present holder. "Where the big one?"

Gir got this really shocked look on his face and yelled, "OH NO! IT'S IN MAH HEAD!" With that small and slightly bit of disturbing information said Gir dug around in his head for a moment and then pulled out a very big box. "Here ya go Master!" Gir handed it over and smiled.

Once Zim received the box he looked proudly over to Dib, then handed it over. "This one's from all of us."

"Whoa, you got the big one for me? Sweet!" Dib eagerly took the bow off and ripped away the paper only to find a big white box with nothing on it. He looked up and glanced at everyone before finding a pair of scissors on the table next to him and cutting the box open. After about two minutes and three attempts by Aneera to help he had finally gotten the box open and pulled out another box, was this a sick joke of some sort? "Oh! Wait... I don't have a Wii though, what do I do?"

"You do now!" Noah gave him another present, obviously containing a Wii for his new Wii_Fit_.

Dib looked at Aneera and crossed his arms. "I suppose it was your idea." She only smiled and clasped her hands together. "Are you calling me fat?" She looked suddenly surprised.

"No! Actually, you look a bit lanky, not that that's a bad thing but," She stopped for a second and stared at Dib while he continued to smile accusingly at her. "Shut up! You are not fat!"

"Whatever." He shook his head and opened up his Wii present.

Gir looked at the now very small pile of presents, there were only two now, so he picked up the smaller one and handed it to Aneera. "Here ya go! It's from me and Minimoose!"

"Awww, thank you!" She once again neatly opened her gift and took off the wrapping and held up the small trinket. It was a statue of a black dragon. It was on all fours with it's head pointed towards at a fourty0five degree angle. The tail was curled up and around just behind the head. The wings had to be the most impressive, they were fully spread out above the figure, the distinction between the thicker and thinner parts was amazing. Honestly it had exquisite detail, the claws, spikes and teeth were all white and everything else was black with a violet tint.

"It's you! Ain't it pretty?" Gir climbed up into her lap and smiled while he watched her 'ooh' and 'awe' over her little gift. "I tolded Minimoose what it shoulda looked like and then he made it.

"Thank you!" Aneera set the little figure down and gave Gir a little hug to show that she thought it was a wonderful present.

"Nya!" Minimoose yelled, nudging the other present so that Gir wouldn't forget about it. "Squeak!"

"Oh yeah! Gazziykinz! We got you's a present too!" Gir jumped up and yanked the present from the floor, then jumped into her lap with his stupid grin. "But don't open it 'till later when you's is all alone."

"Uh huh," From the creepy note and onto a lighter note she said, "Why don't we hook up the Wii?"

* * *

Aneera: Awww, poor Dib, and sorry that it's so late.

Dib: -sniffle- I'm not fat.

Aneera: I never said you was! *hug*

Zim: Tch, you liar.

Aneera: Shut up! *slap*

Zim: Oowwww...

Aneera: I got it for you 'cause I got one too and it was awesome, and it works! One hour everyday! That's what I've been doing!

Zim: ....... You must be fat.


	16. Wii Fit

"No it doesn't! It goes over here!... No! NOT THERE! HERE!" Aneera and Zim were having an argument about what wire went where and all that, though Aneera was right, Zim didn't know anything about electronics so he had no business arguing on that subject.

"How do you know!? Have you ever used one other than mine!?" Zim spat, he had hooked up his Wii that was in the arcade, not her.

"Yes I have!" She shoved him to the floor and took one of the cords out of his hand and leaned behind the television to plug in the cord to the outlet. "See? Now where's the other one?"

Zim scowled and handed over the one that hooked up to the TV saying, "I don't know why you don't think I can handle this on my own."

"Because so far you have done nothing right! You're hooking up the cords to the wrong things! THAT'S WHY!" Then she plugged in the three cords into the sockets on the front of the TV.

While this little fight was going on the rest of them were sitting and watching with amused faces, with the exception of Gaz, this was quite interesting. Even Gir found this to his enjoyment, though his Masters were fighting he thought it to be funny.

"So, is it going to be done anytime soon?" Dib leaned to the side to get a better look at what was going on, from where he was he couldn't see much.

Aneera came back from behind the TV again and plugged in something else to the Wii, then set the little black bar on top of the TV. "Of course, why, do you find it funny to watch us fight and have me win?"

"Actually, yes I do." Dib smiled and looked down at Zim who only made a face and stood up. Then Dib turned his attention back to the TV with another question. "So now what?"

Aneera had knelt down and was fiddling with the buttons on the TV, it was always weird trying to get the right channel, it was different for each TV and network, which was very frustrating. "Well now we have to find the right channel to use... There we go!" She had finally hooked up the Wii and adjusted the channel successfully now and picked up one of the remotes, skipping the irritating 'Warning!' screen.

The Wii's main screen came up showing the Mii channel, the Weather channel, the Photo channel and a few other little things, including the Disc channel.

"Somebody hand me the game." Aneera held her hand out behind her and waited until a little game box was handed to her. She popped it open and removed the disc, placing it sideways into the Wii system. After a minute or two the Disc channel on the screen showed the words Wii_Fit_ and a picture of an old lady doing the yoga tree pose.

Meanwhile Zim was helping Dib put the balance board together, since the house was mostly carpeted they had to put the pads on the bottom of the board. Once this was accomplished they put the batteries in it and flipped it over.

"Okay," Aneera turned around and smiled to indicate that the process was done. "First order of business, Miis need to be made." she announced, handing the wireless remote to Dib.

He looked up at her, and then at the remote, what was he supposed to do with _that_? "Uuuhhhhhh, can you teach me how to use it first? I don't get it."

Pathetic, absolutely pathetic! It was their own technology and they don't know how to use it? How sad.

"Stand up and I'll show you." Aneera led him in front of the TV and handed him the remote, then instructed him to point it at the TV. "See?" she asked as the little blue hand labeled with a '1' came onto the screen.

Dib then got the whole thing, it was controlled by a signal, duh. "Oh... Okay." With almost expertise he moved the cursor over to the Mii channel and clicked the 'A' button, that was purely common sense really. "Okay, now what?"

For the next five minutes or so Aneera had to go through the process of how to make a Mii, changing it's characteristics and what it looked like, how tall it was to be and how fat (Dib thought Aneera made him way too skinny, though it _was_ about right), things of that nature.

Then Dib went on by himself and did his best to create something that looked something like him. It wasn't until he got to the hair selection did he realized the disc had been tampered with. "There's no way..." Surely there couldn't be anyone else with the same hairstyle as his. "Zim, did you do something to it?"

"Maybe, I figured that, you know, we're an odd bunch and all so I altered the disc so that our people could actually look like us, you know? I mean, last time I checked they didn't have the option of green skin. So yeah, I messed with it, sue me." Zim then smiled and waved a hand for Dib to finish.

For an hour all they did was create Miis and fiddle around with a few things, it wasn't till a while later that they actually played on the darn thing.

"Okay, now step on it." Zim commanded, pointing a finger at the board.

Dib stared at him for a long moment, was he actually supposed to _stand_ on that thing? Wouldn't it break or something? "Uh, are you sure? Won't it break?"

"Dib, there is a 330 pound limit on this thing and you weigh, what? Ninety? Get on!" Zim put one hand on the boy's back and shoved him forward, he'd have to step on the thing, or else he'd trip and fall. "See? That wasn't so hard now was it?"

"Yeah well," Dib was then registered into the Wii_Fit_Plaza so he could begin his training. The first thing he did was take a body test to measure his COB, BMI, weight and all that.

To be honest, Dib's COB, or Center Of Balance, was quite amazing, he had almost perfect balance, but his BMI , or Body Mass Index, and weight was what started up an argument.

"I told you! Ha!" Aneera pointed triumphantly at the screen that had Dib's Mii standing next to an arrow that was pointing to the words 'Under Weight'. "I was right! Even the fit board agrees with me!"

"What!? That's not right! I am not under weight!" Dib began to pout, he thought his weight was pretty darn healthy for his age and height, why did everyone think he was scrawny and lanky? Why!?

Aneera fisted her hands and placed them on her hips. "Face it Dib, you either need to eat more or exercise on a regular basis. But getting down to the point, you are under weight! THE BOARD DOES NOT LIE!" For that last part she had to throw her hands up in the air and make her eyes get really big.

"Oh yeah? Prove it." Dib folded his arms then and stood there, waiting for some sort of challenge.

Aneera had to think for a minute before she came up with a reasonable test to prove to himself that he was too thin. "Okay fine, how old are you?"

"Uuuhhhhh, seventeen. But seriously, I don't see where you're going with this." Dib then began to pout, he had a feeling that she was plotting against him, he just didn't know why.

"Okay, how old are you?" she asked, turning to Zim.

"Uhm, about... 420." Aneera gave him a look, she wanted human years. "Oh, in human years... uh... let's see... 420 divided by six would be... 70."

Every eye in the room was on Zim, every mouth was hanging open and gawking, every breath went unheard and Zim could have sworn he was going to die under pressure. The intensity of it all was just so overwhelming, he had a hard time breathing himself, the air was so thick and dense, it was like trying to breath water.

"What!? I'm still young! Besides, we Irkens live for about 1,000 of your puny human years anyways so to you I'm still a kid, humph." and with that, he was done contributing to the conversation, he shall say no more!

Aneera shook her head, this was not helping. "Look, you've got a metabolism about that of teenager right?"

Zim kept to his minds words and only nodded, not saying a single word. In truth him and Dib were about the same when it came to physical strength... well, they were supposed to be anyway.

"Okay then, pick me up." she demanded, neither of them could figure out what she was doing but they didn't want to argue and risk facing the wrath of a giant lizard that could burn the whole house down if she wanted to.

Zim unwillingly stood up and walked over to her, giving her a weird look before he went through with her little request. He sighed and swiftly hoisted her up bridal style, holding her there for a second before she demanded to be put down.

"Now Dib, because you two should have about the same physical strength as each other you should be able to pick me up too. If you can't then you just have to face the fact that you are way too skinny. If you can then you can gloat about it all you want on how I was wrong and you were right. deal?" She was so positive that he wouldn't be able to even get her halfway off the ground without pulling something, and she _hated_ to be wrong.

Dib smirked and folded his arms. "Okay, but prepare yourself for a world of humiliation." He walked over and decided on the best way to accomplish this challenge. Once he figured out how do pick her up (there was no way he could do it the way Zim did, he'd definitely break something that way) he wrapped both arms around her waist and leaned back, trying desperately to get her off the ground. After about three seconds he had to stop and rest, then he did it again, and again, and again. After the last failed attempt he gave up completely and scowled, he had lost, he doesn't like to loose.

Aneera stood up straight again and smiled. "What was that about a world of humiliation?

Even Zim had to laugh at that pitiful display, it was sad, as much as they used to fight and chase each other when they were younger you'd think that Dib would be at least half as strong as Zim. But then again, Zim was a trained soldier, no matter how much of his life had been a lie he still had to go through training to be an invader.

"Wow, that was pathetic." Gaz was now sitting next to a nearly crying Noah, a moose that would stop laughing and a robot that was getting on her nerves. But she was too busy to hurt any of them, her new game was keeping her occupied and she didn't feel like pausing it either.

"Okay! I'm thin! Happy now!?" Dib glared at Aneera and balled his hands into fists, though it seemed to have no effect on her, she just kept on smiling and nodding her head.

"But don't worry, a half hour on the Wii everyday will help! That and eating." She then led Dib back onto the board and forced him to do at least a half hour why they were there.

* * *

About four hours later the small family went home and only Dib and his sister were left in the nearly empty house, their dad hadn't even bothered to come home that day, and on Christmas too, how sad.

The two were currently sitting on the couch watching TV, though Gaz wasn't paying much attention, she was so into her game that the TV didn't hardly seem to be there, it was irrelevant to her game playing. Dib wasn't really focused on it either, there was just nothing else for him to do. Though when he looked down he noticed Gaz's present, it was still wrapped up.

"Hey Gaz, aren't you gonna open your present?" he asked, holding up the little box before she snatched it away from him with so much force he jerked.

"Yeah." and then she got up and left. While she stood she saved her game status and shut it off, putting it in one hand and the present in the other. Without saying another word she left the living room and walked silently up the stairs.

From downstairs Dib could hear the door upstairs slam close, she was in a mood, Christmas time always got to her by the end of the day, happiness was not one of her emotions and her being forced to be around so much of at a time really put her on edge.

Gaz slammed the door closed and sighed, she hated Christmas time more than anything but the happy feeling always seemed to find a way through to her mind, it made her sick.

Pushing that thought aside she set her new game on her dresser that was next to her door and lazily changed into her pajamas, she was so tired she felt like crashing on the floor where she stood but that present, there was something about it that made her sort of gravitate towards it,she just had to know what it was.

Gaz rolled her eyes and sat on the bed with the small box in her hands, there was no telling what they could've gotten her, there was just no way. Well she finally decided that there was no other way to find out than to just open it, so that's what she did.

The first thing to go was the bow, she hated bows but it was black, so it wasn't all bad. Once that was gone she neatly took the paper and revealed a small white box, of course. She tossed the paper in the small bin next to her bed. but kept the bow, it was black. Then she slowly opened the box and pulled out a small figurine.

Sure, the sheer detail of it was absolutely amazing, the fine lines and perfect proportion was absolutely incredible and stunning. But that's not what caught her breath, no. What made her stop breathing and blush so badly was the fact that it was a glass figurine of Zim, and it looked just like him. He was standing with his hands behind his back and his head was turned up a little a tilted slightly to the right with a small smile perched on his lips.

Gaz then understood why she was instructed to open it when she was alone, she would've embarrassed herself, especially in front of him.

She yawned and set the small trinket on her dresser until she found a better spot for it. Then she climbed into bed and shut her eyes, not really wanting the day to come but it couldn't be stopped, so she cleared her mind and fell asleep.

* * *

The others had just gotten home a little while ago and were all extremely tired and the will to go to bed was strong in all of them, but there was just one small thing that needed to be tended to.

"So, what's my present?" Zim asked as they were walking out of Aneera's room from tucking Noah into bed and bidding him a good night. For some reason she insisted that he sleep in there that night.

"Hmm, I'll show you later, not just yet." Oh how she loved to torment him and make him wait for something he wanted.

"What!? Why? That's not fair!" he whispered, closing the door behind him so Noah could have some peace and quiet since he was such a light sleeper.

Aneera did nothing more than smile and shrug her shoulders, it was so entertaining to watch when he got impatient, he acted just like a little kid. But it was even funnier because the look on his face, he instantly knew what she was thinking, that only made his suffering worse.

"That's not fair." _**HAHAHAHA!!! Man, she got you good! **__Shut up! I hate it when she does this to me! I just plain old unfair! __**Yeah well, you should learn to be a little more patient.**__ Patient? I don't have time for patience!__** Well you better make time! **__Why!? __**Who has the higher power of the relationship? **__What kind of a? Is that a trick question!? __**Nope. **__Me. __**You!? HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! You're funny, but no, it's not you. **__But! That ain't right! Why do you know so much!? __**Because, that's why. **__Well of all the stupid- __**Look who's talkin'! **__WHAT!? I AIN'T STUPID! __**That's not what your brain says. **__And since when was listening to my brain a good idea? __**......... **__That's what I thought._

"Uh, Zim? You look a bit put off, something wrong?" Aneera was standing in his doorway and staring as he made this really weird face, he looked mad, but kind of spaced out at the same time.

"Stupid, ha! He thinks he's so smart just because- well, I'll show him!" Zim had absolutely no idea where he was at or what he was doing at the time, he just walked into his bedroom without thinking, sat on his bed and pouted.

Aneera didn't move, she honestly didn't know what to make of this strange situation, it was all very weird to her. "Uh,"

There was another long moment of silence before Zim finally snapped out of his state of mind and looked up with a, "What?"

"Never mind." Aneera sighed and shut the door with a smile.

* * *

Aneera: Sorry, it took a while, but I got it up now!

Zim: I'm going to stay quiet for this one.

Dib: I can't believe you did that to me!

Aneera: But I was just-

Dib: YOU HUMILIATED ME!!!!!

Aneera: But-

Dib: And then you stayed and smirked at me the whole time! I mean! YOU WOULDN'T STOP STARING AT ME!

Zim: Wouldn't you see that to be a _good_ thing?

Dib: *blush* Shut up.


	17. Zim's Insane Plan

Red was sitting in his chair in the communications room awaiting a call from one of his most trusted pilots who was _supposed_to be getting information, but in this type of situation there was no telling what he was doing. To Red and even Purple everyone seemed to be a little on edge, they started to notice more and more people getting paranoid, which wasn't normal or supposed to happen. This was what Irkens did, took over planets and took all of the inhabitants as slaves, why should this be any different? Just because they were going against other Irkens? It's happened before... it wasn't pretty but it has happened so neither of them saw any reason for any of them to be this jumpy. but Purple had to admit, it made him feel better to have people not really liking the situation.

To Purple he saw it as people finally coming to realization with what was really going on, instead of what they wanted them to see. Purple always disliked the idea of controlling people's thoughts, emotions, actions and decisions, he didn't feel that it was right. Though at first this was just a minor situation that he continuously pushed to the back of his mind, but now, now he couldn't ignore what he was doing. He really admired the humans, they were free, they were able to feel what they wanted and best of all, they weren't being controlled by beings that thought they were better than everyone else just because of their height.

"Incomming transmission from Pilot Ix." One of the ComTechs turned around and looked at his Tallest for an order.

Red's head snapped up and he sighed with relief, waving a hand for it to be answered. Then he waited momentarily as the transmission was being processed. Soon Ix appeared on screen and he saluted his Tallest before explaining the information that he had found.

"Sir, I have not been able to locate their base, it's no longer on the map, we can't find them." Ix knew this was going to really piss Red off but if he lied it would only make the situation worse, so he braced himself for the yelling that he was positive was going to ensue, though nothing came. Ix looked back up and saw his leader thinking deeply for a second.

"Okay then, what have found out about the planet? Is there anything there that would help at all?" To be honest, Red should know the answer to that question, but he never paid any attention to Zim and his reports on the planet.

Ix looked away for a second to review his notes on 'the pitiful ball of dirt' that he had taken, then looked back and shook his head. "No Sir, it's all dirt and water, Sir."

Red thought for another second, he remembered Zim freaking out about acid that he referred to as water and how the humans thrived on it. "Ix, what can you tell me about water?" He should know the answer to that as well.

Once again Ix turned back to his notes and read a few things back to Red. "Well, it's a combination of one part hydrogen and two parts oxygen, about seventy to seventy-five percent of the planet is covered in it and the majority of it is either salt water or polluted." Those were the basic notes, everything else was scientific and talked about what the humans used water for.

Red vaguely remembered Zim talking about how deadly water was to Irkens so he decided to ask Ix about it. "How harmful is water to us?" When Red asked that question he noticed how much Ix cringed, it must have been pretty bad.

"Well, Sir, it burns our skin on contact. Though I do believe the reason is because of all the salt and pollution, absolute pure water wouldn't be harmful. Unfortunately that kind of water is hard to find, even for the humans. In short, the whole planet is a death trap, it's a miracle they have survived as long as they have." Ix now looked a bit paranoid, he kept swallowing and he wouldn't stop fidgeting.

"Is there any sort of protection from it?" Red had now begun to sound despereate, if that whole planet was a spinning water bomb there was no way he could send down an entire fleet!

"Not that I know of, Sir." Even Ix seemed a bit hopeless, he knew there was nothing they could do.

Red growled to himself and cursed under his breath, if only he had paid more attention! Well, it was too late now, he'd just have to send out a minimal amount of soldiers and hope for the best, either that or double smeet production, if they could even do that. "Thank you Ix." After that he ended the transmission and left the room.

As he walked down the halls to the weapon storage facility he couldn't help but wonder, why didn't anybody bother to put their location on record? Now they couldn't even send transmissions to them anymore, they must have blocked them all, what morons! Oh well, maybe the bomb was done, he really hoped it was.

Sure, Tiz had installed a detonator inside the first one to disable the motherboard and short out the fuse, but this time they decided to use a bit more of their super advanced technology. Red was planning on making a bomb that would send out an electrical shock that would disable all electrical appliances and render the humans helpless, so far his plan was foolproof... at least to him.

As Red was walking down the hall and starring at the floor he accidentally bumped into Purple, almost knocking the poor thing to the ground. "Hey! Watch it!" Red spat at his co-Tallest, curling his two fingers to make the best fist he could.

Purple righted himself and glared at Red hatefully, just the thought of his co-ruler made him sick with rage and disdain. "Why don't _you_!" Purple then looked away and floated down the hall past Red and disappeared around a corner. He had to call Zim, there was something he needed to know, but getting away from everybody seemed to get more and more challenging these days.

Once in his private quarters Purple locked the door behind him and sighed with relief at being alone after a long day. These days people were constantly asking him questions, following him until he ran and panicking at his feet, begging for them to not loose Aneera, nobody wanted her to go, but everybody wanted Zim gone. People were still debating Noah, though he has teal eyes he's still illegal.

Purple straightened himself and made his way over to his TV, comanding his peronal compluter to send an urgent transmission to Zim, it was very important and he couldn't delay any longer. The computer confirmed that the transmission had been sent and so then he patiently waited for someone to answer.

While he waited Purple sat on his couch and took a handful of cookies from the bowl on the table in front of him, shoving them in his mouth all at once. This continued for the next five minutes or so until the computer chimed in.

"**Transmission answered.**" His computer had a girl's voice, something he'd been meaning to change for quite a while now, she was starting to get on his nerves.

Purple sat up and waited while the screen turned on.

"Hello Purple.. What's wrong? You looked worried." Aneera tilted her head to the side scowled, Purple usually never looked this worried over anything.

"Yeah, I sort of am. I need to talk with Zim, is he aorund?" Purple made an attempt to look past her but saw nothing at all that would be of interest to him.

Aneera looked away for a second and turned back to him saying, "Sure, he'll be right there." Then she walked away and didn't return, making Purple wait until someone else came to answer.

"Hello, my Tallest, what can I do for you?" Zim smiled up at Purple and waited for either a lecture or a really long story.

Purple looked up and about spewed his soda all over the place. "Zim! I need to tell you something very important!" Then he put the cookies down, maybe, for right now, he should lay off a bit. "Red is up to something huge!"

Zim just stared at his Tallest for a second, he wasn't quite sure as to where Purple was going with this, Red was _always_up to something bad, so what was the big deal? It must be some new plot or scheme or something. Obviously this was not normal, maybe Red is going to do something that could possibly disintegrate the entire planet or maybe he was going to open some weird black hole to suck it up and have it gone forever, or maybe he's-

"Zim? Hello? Irk to Zim! I have something important to tell you!" Purple began to wave his arms up and down by his sides to get the other's attention, but it wasn't working quite like he would have hoped.

Zim blinked and looked up stupidly with a, "Huh?" He hadn't realized that he had spaced out and left. "Oh, sorry. What was it that you wanted to tell me?"

A sigh escaped Purple's lips before he dared go on. "Red has a new plan for getting rid of Earth, I thought you'd like to hear it." He waited for a second to make sure that Zim was listening. "From what I've been able to find he's planning on sending out a small probe that will disable the NASA satellites so that the humans don't have any outside connection. Then he's going to launch hundreds of larger probes that will short circuit all of the electrical power plants, generators and such, leaving the humans with no electricity."

For a moment the idea just didn't register in Zim's mind, he didn't see it as a plausible idea, could it really be done? Would he actually be able to strip the humans of all electrical power? "But, that's impossible, there's no way he could-..." Then it hit, if he took out the major sources of electricity than he would be able to darken the planet, if not at least dim it. "Oh no."

They would powerless, they would have no electricity, either that or not much, but certainly not enough to generate an attack. And they couldn't possibly send out rockets into space, there were way too many Irken ships surrounding the planet, there would be no way to-

"Wait," Zim got an idea, it was completely insane, but it just might work. If they could get Earth to work together as a whole instead of individual countries, maybe they could make enough atomic bombs to weaken or confuse the surrounding fleet, then send out a nuclear warhead to blow up the probe. If they could at least do that then maybe, maybe they could-... no, it couldn't be done.

"What?" Purple looked intensely at Zim.

Zim explained what he had been thinking but he still thought it was an insane idea, Purple even agreed with him. "But if we could at least do that much it might buy us enough time to get a small army transported up there and see if they could possibly do enough damage to the Massive that Red would have to temporarily retreat. I know, it sounds crazy but honestly I can't think any other options.

Purple thought for a moment about this absolutely ridiculous plan, but it was so ridiculous that it just might work. "What will you all use for weapons?" He knew the humans well enough to figure that they wouldn't stand a chance on the Massive without some sort of super powerful something or other.

"Well," Zim began."I thought maybe you could send me down one of those new laser models that Zink made, I might be able to reprogram it to shoot water and a laser as a back-up. If I could do that than you could send her back down here and we could try to talk with NASA. Then we could teach their technicians to build them. It won't be much but it would be something."

There was a long pause before Purple nodded his head and disappeared for a moment, he figured he should call Zink now and have her come to his private quarters so that she could talk it over with Zim. Once he came back into view he sighed and said, "Zink has been notified, she'll be here in a moment."

Zim nodded and was about to reply but there was a loud squeal that came from his right.

"GET OFF OF ME!" was the only thing he heard before a small robot landed at his feet, must have been Noah again.

Gir looked up and smiled a stupid smile, tongue hanging out and all. As he sat at his Master's feet he began to giggle until it turned into a psychotic laugh, which was pretty scary.

Purple jumped at the sudden sound and suddenly felt bad, he only had himself to blame after all, if it wasn't for him then maybe it wouldn't be so stupid or spazzy. Shaking that thought away he smiled and moved aside as Zink entered the room. Purple bid Zim a goodnight and left to do other things while he let Zink take over.

"Hey Zim, how can I help?" Zink smiled real big and listened to Zim's little plan, admitting that it was a pretty insane idea, but she thought they had a chance to pull it off. "Well, that does sound a little out there, but I don't see why we can't try, it's not like we have any other options."

"That's what I thought, I mean, if we're going to do something we have to do it now." Zim said, watching as Zink inserted a small USB disk like device into something below his vision.

"I'm sending you the blueprints, I personally don't know how to reprogram it to shoot _water_but then again you were always the one that was good at messing with tech, so I'm sure you can do something with it." Zink laughed a little to herself. "As for me coming over, I really don't know, I could try. Though I'm not going to guarantee anything I will try, but can I come now? If I do I'll be there by late in the afternoon, that okay?"

Zim sighed and relaxed a little. "Yeah, that's alright."

"Great! I'll try to bee over there soon!" After a few departing words she cut the transmission.

* * *

Zink ran at full speed down the halls, hardly touching her feet to the floor. In her arms was a great big laser that had to be at least half as tall as she was, which was about four feet. It was a pink-ish sort of device that looked kind of like those cheesy "alien" ray guns that you see in really old Earth movies, except this one worked.

As she continued down the hall she bumped into Purple, almost tripping over him in the process. She looked up and smiled, completely out of breath and feeling as if her arms were about to detach and fall off. "H... hello, m-my Tallest. Ju-Just on my way to... you know... yeah. Well I gotta... gotta go now. I'll let you know when I get there!... Bye."

"Uh, okay then. Goodbye Zink, tell them I said good luck." Purple blinked a couple of times before shaking his head and continuing towards the food court, they were having a special on glazed doughnuts and that he couldn't miss!

Zink kept a steady pace and ran all the way to the docking station, not saying a word to anybody or anything, she had a job to do and by Irk, she was gonna do it!

Once she reached the docking station she crept inside while she had made sure the coast was clear and swiftly entered her Star Cruiser. Once she hopped in she set the laser in the back and closed the top with one hand while turning on the ship with the other. The ship started with a low, soft rumbling noise that could barely be heard.

Soon the small ship lifted up and she headed out of the station that was so conveniently left open, probably for returning or exiting Fighter Jets. As she ship flew out of the Massive she could already make out hoards of small ships, Irken ships. Thankfully she was able to get her cloaking device up and running before she left, she had to find a way to pay back Tiz for the missing part.

Space was dark, but because of the vast numbers of Runners, Cruisers, Jets and just about every other type of ship there was it wasn't that hard to miss them.

A few hours quickly passed and Zink continued to smoothly fly along, she hadn't seen a ship for hours now, but she was approaching Earth fast, but it looked different. At first she thought it was just the lack of sunlight on the clouds that was resulting in dark purple blotches, but as she got closer she could see that it was Red's fleet, they had completely surround Earth. And as far as she knew, they were all doomed.

* * *

Aneera: NNOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Zim: You liar.

Aneera: You don't know that!

Zim: Yes I do, you know why?

Aneera: Why?

Zim: Because I, KNOW EVERYTHING!!!!

Aneera: Sure, keep dreamin'.


	18. Babysitting

Zink continued to slowly make her way towards the upcoming planet, the colors and hues of the blues, greens and browns becoming more distinct with value. The clouds also became more clear and she started to see that they really didn't have shadows, it was the hoard of ships that was flocked around earth. Though the ships were small in size and weren't very powerful on their own, they could really be a pain in the fanny if there was as many as this.

"Dang, Red wasn't kidding." Zink had heard Red talking about how he was going to send three entire fleets to surround the planet, but she didn't believe that he was desperate enough to do _that_.

The ship was now approaching the outer shell of the barrier, getting past them wasn't that hard, they probably didn't even know she had past. The inner defences, however, were a totally different story.

Zink's intercom suddenly burst to life and a stern voice filled the cockpit of her Cruiser and made her jump a little. "Unidentified Star Cruiser, do realize that you are invading a restricted area?"

"I was sent by the Tallest thank you very much! And if you don't believe then I dare you to prove otherwise!" She yelled at her console that was sitting so conveniently below her, making it feel like whoever that was talking to her was shorter than she.

The intercom went dark again without any further comment from the illiterate she went back to casually drifting through the black void until she started to enter the atmosphere, then she decided to give them a heads up.

Once again the intercom flicked to life but this time she pulled up the ComCam so that they could see her. After sending a transmission through to the strange green thing they call a house she sat back and waited for someone to pick up.

--

"Noah! Will you answer that please!?" Zim's voice drifted from his upstairs bedroom and because Aneera was down in the labs somewhere doing Lord knows what, Noah got up from the kitchen table with a huff and answered.

As he sat down on the couch with a bag on chips in his hand the TV turned itself on and showed... Was that Zink? Huh, amazing that he remembered her.

Zink opened her mouth to say something but at the sight of Noah she went mute. For a good five minutes they just sat and stared at each other, Noah was completely freaked out and Zink thought she was seeing things. Then, without further ado, she screamed, "Oh my dear sweet Tallest in Heaven, Noah? Is that you!?"

After a second it finally registered, he had gotten taller since their last visit. "Yeah, still me." He gave a sweet smile and popped a chip into his mouth, hopefully avoiding further conversation. Thankfully Aneera stepped in from the floor and saved him.

"Oh, hey Zink, what're you doing?" Aneera stopped and shooed Noah away for a minute while sitting in the seat that he had just occupied before being made to leave.

"Didn't Zim tell you? I'm coming over to help! By the way, WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM!? The last time I saw him he was only this big!" Zink help up her hands to show the height of about two and a half feet, indicating that that was about how tall he was and still should be. While doing this she looked intensely at her friend.

Aneera smiled and nodded her head, she sort of saw the reaction coming. "Yeah well, it happens." was her brilliant explanation to the little oddity, that those types of things just sort of happened.

Zink slowly nodded her head up and down about three times before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, then she continued. "Anyways, I'm coming over to help with making a weapon that we can use against Red's fleet. Oh, um, where do you guys live? You're base is kind of not on the map anymore."

A sigh and a small smile escaped Aneera before she went over a set of very detailed instructions on how to get to the base. In total, it took about an hour before Zink was able to successfully navigate to the bizzare thing that they lived in. After she had landed in the roof she quickly made her way down to the house floor.

"Hello!" She greeted, holding out her arms for a hug. "So, where'd he go?" She asked, eyeing the kitchen with suspicion.

"I'M UP HERE!" Zim called loudly from his bedroom, waving his arm behind him though knowing full well that it was pointless and no one would see him, but he did it anyway.

Zink smiled once again and bolted upstairs to plot plans of utter destruction and pain that will put a cease to Red's wrong doings. She quickly crossed the landing and made an attempt to open Zim's door before she actually ran into it, but failed miserably. Instead of having the door open and her just bursting into the room she slammed into it and almost fell over. With a shake of her head and a slight groan she opened the door and disappeared inside.

Zim looked up from the blueprints and jumped a little. "Oh, that was you that slammed into my door, I thought it was Gir." He smiled playfully and watched as Zink silently closed the door, a sour look beginning to make itself known.

Once they were sure they wouldn't be bothered Zink crossed the room and sat next to Zim so that they could go over the blueprints for the laser. In truth, Zink didn't really know much about the chemical compounds of a lot of elements, she just knew what happened when you did certain things to certain elements, but that was about it. Though she knew Zim had a greater knowledge about how to manipulate different things so that they would do what he told them to do, Zink didn't know how to do that.

"So, how are you going to go about doing this?" Zink leaned over Zim's shoulder and peered at the piece of paper in his hands, trying to at least get sort of a minimal idea of what he may be able to do, knowing full well that it would only confuse her further.

Zim sighed and his face contorted a little, he did have a small idea of what had to be done but how he was going to do it he just wasn't sure yet. "Well, I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I do have an idea."

--

Aneera was laying silently on the couch watching a mystery movie, she remembered seeing it when she was little, when she was still "human", but she forgot where she saw it. It was well into the show now, about an hour or so and she hadn't seen heads or tails of anybody for at least fourty-five minutes. She hardly paid attention though, the movie had her undivided attention and she must have been sitting perfectly still for some time now.

"Mom?" Aneera looked up towards the sounds and saw Noah slowly walking down the stairs with a worried presence about him. She could only smile as he crossed the room and sat on the floor in front of her.

"Yes?" she said, beginning to stroke his thin antennae when he laid his head down.

For a long moment neither of them said a word, it was quiet except for the sounds of the movie. It was a type of eerie and bothersome silence though, both of them knew that there was something very important that needed to be addressed but they didn't feel like talking about it.

Finally Noah spoke up, "What's gonna happen to us?" As he waited for and answer he tilted his head back to look at his mother.

Aneera didn't quite know what to say, it was a very hard question to answer, mostly because she didn't know how. "What do you mean?"

"Well," he began again. "I know we're in big trouble and I kind of know why, but, what exactly is going to happen? I mean, they have so many people and they're all smarter than the humans, how're we supposed to fight back? We'd lose wouldn't we?" Noah had turned his head away, not wanting to see the look in her eyes when she realised what he was getting at.

She sighed, she knew what he was asking, what if one of us died? For some time she had had a feeling that one day she was going to go away for a while, that the possibility of her dying was pretty high. But for some reason she felt as though she wouldn't be gone for very long, but she didn't fully understand it herself so it was really hard to explain, especially to someone who didn't entirely get the whole issue.

"Um, well that depends on who goes away I guess." That was honestly the best she could offer him at this point, she just didn't know what to say. Though she knew one of them was bound to go it was hard to say who.

Noah continued to sit in silence, not really wanting to continue this painful conversation, he was crying on the inside. He couldn't imagine living without either of his parents, it would be too horrific for him. To make matters even worse this war was coming up pretty fast and the way he saw it was he only had a small amount of time with them left.

--

"It won't work, I promise you." Zink sat back and watched as Zim tinkered with the laser, there were various bits and pieces laying about on the floor around him.

Zim smiled and said, "Yes it will, you just wait." then het set down the weird, twisted screwdriver looking thing and picked up a drill.

Zink decided that she might as well keep quiet, after all, when Zim was being Zimmish there was never anything you could do about it except just give him what he wants. So wait she did, and she continued waiting for about ten more minutes.

"Ha! Now, watch, IT WILL WORK!" Zim smiled triumphantly and held up the small weapon, slyly aiming it at Zink.

"I'm telling you, it just won't work." She folded her arms and prepared for Zim's humiliation, but all she got was a shot in the face. "GAH! That hurt!" So the laser did indeed work, and it was very effective!

Zim snickered and set it down so he wouldn't "accadently" cause anymore trouble. "See? What'd I tell you? I MADE IT WORK!" Once he had had his little moment of I-told-you-so he laid down on the floor and yawned, it was late and he really didn't need to be deprived of anymore sleep, he was functioning on four hours as it was.

"What was that!?" Aneera's voice carried up from the first floor to Zim's bedroom, making said owner of the room smirk while Zink blinked a couple of times to come out of her disoriented state.

"Nothing!" Zim yelled back, hiding the laser behind him, once again knowing that the action would do absolutely nothing.

There was a moment of silence, indicating that she either believed him or just didn't care anymore. Once again the sound of the TV was the only thing that was making any noise at all.

Zink turned hotly towards Zim, squinting her eyes and crossing her arms, she had _not_appreciated the little shot in the face. She continued to glare until Zim finally gave up the laser and decided to listen. "Thank you." Zink put the laser away for tomorrow so she could do a few more studies on it and start the duplication process.

They were one step closer to victory.

--

"Why? Zink'll be here!" Noah was currently arguing the fact that he had to stay over at Dib and Gaz's house, his parents were going out to a concert and he couldn't go. Though he couldn't see why he had to stay with Dib and his scary sister, Zink could watch over him.

"But she's busy! She won't be able to actually watch you! And I am _not_letting you have run of the house! Gir is bad enough!" Aneera gave Noah that look that only a mother could, the one tat said "Don't argue with me, I'll win and you know it".

Noah only sighed and gave in, it really was pointless to argue with her, lest he wanted to face the wrath of the "monster" who was sure to evoke her wrath, if she needed to. "Fine." He began to head towards the door, he could already tell that it would be a long night, stuck in a house with some guy that used to be determined to get his father's guts on a dissection table and his scary sister that he just wasn't sure about yet, fun.

It wasn't long until Zink was left alone to work her magic in the labs, Zim and Aneera were off having fun and Noah was stuck in a nut house. It seemed that everyone was going to have fun, except the child, why is it the littlest one always has the least amount of fun?

Noah watched from the doorway as his parents flew off in the Cruiser, then with a huff he shut the door and turned around, trying to be brave so that he could endure whatever pain that would be sure the make itself known. He didn't know Dib all that well, he did know that he was a good kid, perfect grades, did what he was told, cared for people he didn't like or know and was usually in a good mood, oh joy.

At first he was a bit nervous, there was no telling when that freaky goth kid would jump at him with a knife screaming about how he was going to pay for ever messing with Earth or whatever. He also kept a close eye on Gaz, though she didn't scare him he had heard of a few things she was capable of, and that was plenty enough for him.

"You look paranoid, are you okay?" Dib poked his head out around from the doorway of the kitchen at Noah, who was sitting casually on the couch watching TV.

He looked up, trying to be as polite as possible. "Yeah, I'm fine, just a little... awkward." He then returned his attention back to the TV, praying that the conversation was over, God must not have heard.

Dib walked into the living room and stood next to him, looking thoughtfully at him, he had a pretty good idea as to why he was so uncomfortable. "Are you afraid of me?" He couldn't help but smirk, he knew he was, and he had every right to be.

Noah looked up again, somehow he knew what the boy was asking, "Are you scared that I'm gonna try to do an autopsy on you?". "Well... Yes and no." He was because he had heard stories about how he and his dad had fought in their earlier years, but no because obviously both parents trusted the human enough to put their only child's protection in his hands.

"Why?" Oh how painful this was starting to get. Dib had now sat down next to him and was mindlessly staring at the TV.

"I've heard some things, let's leave it at that." Noah could feel his squeedlyspooch begin to churn and tighten, he was very uncomfortable.

Dib chuckled and thought about all of the "fun" things him and Zim used to do when they were kids. He was kind of disappointed that Zim had lost his ego and edge a little, he wasn't his old self anymore, but everybody has to grow up at some point. For Zim it was when he felt alone, after he had found out all of these secrets and then Aneera had left him, Dib couldn't help but feel a little bad for him.

Though he didn't really know what it felt like to have someone to care for him like that, heck he couldn't even get a girl to so much as look at him. And every time he thinks about it he always tells himself that he doesn't really need a girl, he always heard about them getting in the way. But then he also thought about how Zim used to have the same mind set and look at him now, he was married, with a kid! So who was to say that someday it wouldn't happen to him?

"Hey, you're spacing out!" Noah waved his hand in front of Dib's face to get his attention, it was a good two minutes before he noticed and came back down to Earth.

"Oh, sorry." Dib rubbed the side of his head, he felt tired and as though someone had sucked all of the life right out of him. "Just thinking."

"About what?" Why he was asking was a mystery even to him.

Dib looked at him fully and smiled. "Would you like to hear a story?"

Noah had to admit, the story of his parents and their pasts was pretty interesting, though some of it was sad, but some was happy too. He thought the part about his mom hating his dad was actually kind of funny and the part where Gir had called Aneera fat when she was pregnant, he actually laughed at that last one, poor Gir, he didn't know much.

Then Dib started to go back to when Zim was the "Almighty ZIM!", Noah had a hard time believeing that his dad could have possibly acted to egotistical and full of himself. But then again, Zim had always been a weird one, you could never really predict what was going to happen next with him.

Dib had told him all about their adventures, like the one time when Zim had launched a giant water balloon at him, when they had turned each other into bologna and the time when he had thrown a muffin at Zim's head. He also mentioned the time that Zim stole every body's organs, but he didn't go into tremendous detail about that one, it was a little too disgusting. But his favorite one was the one on Halloween, when he started to see creepy visions and they both ended up inside his big head.

"Wait wait wait, you mean that you both got teleported inside of... your head?" Noah had a hard time grasping that one, he just didn't see it.

"Yeah, and then he got captured by monsters and he somehow got away. Then I got captured and he ended up saving me just before the hole in my head got any bigger." Dib subconsciously rubbed the spot where the monsters had made that hole, just making sure that it was gone.

Noah's eyes got real big for a second. "What happened after you guys got away?"

"Well, after we got out he set the robot to attack the monsters to buy us some time. Unfortunately the only way out was through my head and the hole was too small. So he got this bright idea of shoving something in it to make it bigger. It did work and so he jumped in-"

"No! He didn't!... Did he?... That's gross... Eeewwwwww." The mental image of that wade Noah turn a little paler, it was a sickening thing.

Dib smiled a little and continued. "Yeah he did. Wanna know I got back?"

A moment of silence passed before Noah slightly nodded and waited.

"Well I knew it would be a little painful, and it was, but it was the only way for me get out so I put my feet through my head." Noah's face distorted and he began to look a little sick. "I did get back, but I was literally turned inside out, so I looked like a giant ball of organs. Thankfully I turned right side out again."

"That's a little disturbing." Noah stuck his tongue out and shook a little.

By this time about two hours had gone by and just when Noah was starting to feel a little bit better the doorbell rang. He knew who it was and he had to prepare himself for the sickening torture that he was about to feel.

"It's open!" Dib didn't bother getting up, he knew who it was.

Zim and Aneera came into the house and smiled, greeting the two with "Hi" and "Hello", not really knowing what they were walking into.

Noah bit his tongue and held his mid section, trying not throw up, just the sight of the "Almighty ZIM!" was enough to make him want to swoon and faint.

Dib on the other hand was laughing himself to death, to the point where he almost fell off the couch.

Zim scowled a little, he wasn't quite sure what was going on, nor was he sure that he wanted to know. At first he thought he looked funny and he just didn't know what they saw. Soon he figured out that they had talking about him, once he had done a full body inspection and saw that there was absolutely nothing to laugh about. "What is _wrong_ with you two!?"

Dib's eyes bugged and he laughed even harder, his face was starting to turn a little blue. "Nothing!"

Noah hadn't moved, he just kept staring at Zim with that sick look on his face, he just couldn't seem to keep the images from flooding into his innocent little mind.

"Seriously, what did you tell him?" Zim folded his arms and shifted his weight on one foot.

Dib forced himself to quit laughing and sit up straight, then he took a deep breath and composed himself. "I was telling him about all of our wonderful adventures that we used to have way back when." Dib had to bite his tongue so he wouldn't go back into a laughing fit.

Zim sighed and rolled his eyes, there was no telling which amazing adventure he had heard about. "Which one made him sick?" He was guessing that time wen he stole the organs, either that or the bologna episode, both were really stomach churning things to hear about.

"I told him about Halloween, you know, when we got telaported inside my head?" The laughter was starting to over rule Dib's sort of calm state, it wasn't long before he had to hide his face in a pillow.

For this whole conversation Aneera had just stood and watched, it wasn't until he said 'telaported inside my head' that she showed any sign of life, she turned questioningly towards Zim for an explanation.

"Yeah, that was not a fun experiance." Zim himself was trying not to remember the horrific incadent, he really didn't want to think about how he was forced to jump through that very large head.

"Wait, what?" Aneera still wanted to know what they were talking about, she couldn't follow what exactly she had heard, not that she wanted to, but she would end up turning inside out if she wasn't told.

Zim turned to look at her and he smiled, her expression was priceless. "I'll tell you later." Then he walked over to Dib to thank him for watching Noah for them.

"I had fun, he's almost just like you." Dib glanced at Noah again, hoping he hadn't scarred the poor kid for life. "I kind of miss the old you, we had a lot more fun it seems. Oh well, you had to grow up eventually."

Zim nodded, he too sometimes wished he would just wake up someday and realize that it was all just a dream and he was still short, evil and full of his own ego. But then he wouldn't have his family and he didn't want to give that up. "I know, we did have fun huh? Even though we hated each other." He smirked and looked to the side, catching Noah out of the corner of his eye.

"Well it's late, you should probably go home and get some sleep." Dib bid them all a good night as they left and watched until he couldn't see them anymore, thinking about just how much longer they'll be around.

In fact, that seemed to be the only thing an anybody's mind now.

--

Aneera: YAY! WOOT! AN UPDATE! YEAH!

Zim: Darn it! I though you forgot.

Aneera: Forget? I could never forget you!

Zim: That's what I was afraid of.

Aneera: Anyways, I have good news! I now have a deviantART account so you guys can get a little bit better idea of what people look like. If you happened to be on the site and are curious my name is Auzie-Angel.

Zim: Who?

Aneera: NO! They wouldn't let me have -Aneera- and I was mad... Ah well, SEE YOU GUYS LATER! Oh and remember, REVIEW!


	19. Help Is On The Way!

The trio was quietly walking home in the dark, none of them were disguised but there really was no reason, people didn't pay that much attention anyways. Though it seemed quiet they didn't really notice the hooting of owls and the soft whistle of the wind as it passed, their minds were far off into deep thoughts.

The war was coming up and there was no telling when Red would make the first strike, they all had to constantly be on high alert, just in case something happened. They were honestly doing the best they could, knowing that the humans were all frightened and scared, cowering away in their homes most of the time, that's why the streets were almost always deserted. But what else did they know to do? Sure they've fought amongst themselves on many occasions but nothing that dealt with other planets, especially ones who were so much more advanced.

For both Zim and Aneera it was all a matter of keeping Noah safe, that's really the only important thing, that and Earth, though Zim could honestly care less about the pitiful ball of dirt that doesn't even really pass for a planet. Though he did sort of care, but only because Aneera did, other than that his main priority was Noah, but they had already had that discussion.

* * *

_Aneera was laying quietly on her bed with one hand twiddeling a tassel on her favorite pillow, she had been doing this for quite some time. Her mind hadn't quite been very clear and she was a little bit worried, there was just so much to think and worry about. While she was in this very strange set of mind she had failed to notice that her body had become completely rigid and was on high alert, but this was brought to her attention when Zim slowly opened her door._

_He poked his head through the small crack and blinked, he really didn't feel like having this conversation now but it really did need to be had. "Hey," he started, not knowing what to say. He had now walked into the room and shut the door behind him, not wanting any interruptions. "Can I talk to you about something?"_

_Aneera looked up and very lightly smiled, knowing full well what this was going to be about. "Of course, what's the matter?" She sat up and used her big, fluffy pillows to support her._

_"Well," He looked away, he just couldn't figure out some way to start this seemingly unbearable conversation. So he walked over and laid himself down next her, still not making eye contact. "I'm a little worried to be honest." So far so good._

_She sat up a little more and did her best to look directly at him, though he continued to look away. "How so?" She knew it would be hard for him to say why, even she could tell that he was already in pain. She tried to ease a little of the uncomfortable feeling, hesitantly reaching out her hand and gently brushed the tip of his right antennae, not wanting to startle him._

_Zim shuddered and almost instantly calmed, all of his muscles loosened and he went completely went limp. "Hmm." He smiled and closed his eyes, now he'd almost forgotten why he came in in the first place. He oddly felt very content and sort of... happy, though this was not the time._

_Aneera smiled a little bit more and began rub the flat end in between her fingers, once again letting her mind wander._

_As Zim continued to lay there and somewhat stupidly let her mess with his antennae he felt himself become a little sleepy, that wasn't good. He only let this continue for about a minute or so, they had something to talk about, something very important to talk about, it wouldn't be very smart to ignore it anymore than he already was. He reached behind him and gently pulled her hand away, keeping it securely in his own while he turned to face her. "You know what this is about and you know we can't keep puting it off."_

_She sighed and slightly hung her head. "I know." For a while she knew this would be brought up, what to do with Noah should one of them not make it, it was something that neither of them wanted to openly discuss, or even think about. "So what do you plan to do?"_

_"Well, if I go I certainly don't want you to stay here, just in case we don't win. Actually, you really shouldn't stay on Earth, if it's possible I'd rather you move somewhere else." Zim's face fell a little, he knew how much this planet meant to her, leaving it permanently would be absolutely devastating._

_"What!? I couldn't just leave! I-" Zim put a finger to her lips and silently told her to quiet down, after all there was nothing that he could do about it, if she had to leave then he would see to that she did, it may not be safe on Earth anymore._

_Aneera looked up as the tears began to fall, leaving the only place that she was ever able to call home was something she just couldn't grasp. To her Irk wasn't home, Earth was, that's where she grew up, that's where her family was, that's where her memories were, she couldn't give all of that up._

_As Zim looked at her he began to feel sick, he knew this was going to hurt but this wasn't just a little pain, this was pure agony. Before he let her see him come undone he pulled her close to him and wrapped his arms around her, making sure this was real and not just a figment of his imagination. He had to understand that this really was happening, they really were getting into an intergalactic battle and there was a very strong possibility that one of them was going to die, but that was just the laws of nature._

_A few minutes went by and the silence was starting to get unbearable. "What if I go?" Aneera was just barely able to choke it out through her sobs but the tears never ceased to fall. She felt Zim shift next to her, he was getting too uncomfortable for his own good. He was to the point where she could actually feel him shaking and the sickness that he was feeling was starting to effect her too._

_"I don't know yet." He couldn't help but hold her tighter as the images began to course through his mind, life without her wouldn't be worth it but he'd have to stay alive for Noah, that was going to hurt. The only thing that was keeping him from losing it completely was him repeatedly telling himself that there was a chance, however slim it may be, that neither of them would die, there was that sliver of hope that he was just barely able to cling to that kept him together no matter how broken he was on the inside._

"Hey! DAD! WAKE UP!" Noah had probably been screaming at his father for the past ten minutes.

"Eh?" Zim finally snapped out of it and looked around, they were at the front door of the house, though he couldn't remember walking there, strange.

Aneera opened the door and Noah ran inside, disappearing into the labs, but she stood in the doorway in font of Zim, not letting him inside. "Are you alright? You don't look well."

"Yeah, why?" Zim acted as though nothing had happened.

"I don't know, you just looked really bothered by something, are you sure you're okay? You know I worry about you." She started to look a bit pleading, that usually worked.

Zim smiled a little and bent down, now he had grown a miraculous four more inches taller than her, and gently pressed his lips to hers, usually he wouldn't openly kiss her like this just because Noah was almost always around and the first time they had been caught Noah screamed that he'd been scarred for life.

When he pulled away Aneera looked at him a bit seriously. "Okay, now I know something's wrong with you." He would only do that when he was trying to forget something.

"What!? I'm fine, I promise. It's just that, the conversation that we had the other day is starting to sting again." Once again he smiled, he didn't want her to start feeling bad too so he just pretended that it was all okay.

"Oh... yeah." She looked down and sighed, maybe she shouldn't have asked, oh well, too late now.

Zim now felt really bad, he wasn't going to tell her in the first place but he didn't want her to worry too much. He swiftly stepped behind her and put his hands on her waist, guiding her inside and away from prying eyes of people who just might be staring. Once inside he shut the door and walked her upstairs. "You should go to bed, it's late and you're tired."

To Aneera sleep sounded like heaven so she made no argument or struggle when he laid her down and tucked her in. Once he had pulled the covers over her shoulders and made sure that she was warm Zim gave her a quick kiss and quietly left her room, turning the lights off as he went. The door silently shut and he made his way to his labs, curious to see what Zink was up to.

* * *

The lights were off, the doors were tightly shut and the only source of anything that made it possible to see was the small blue orb sitting next to Zink as she fiddled with her laser. She was in the process of figuring out how Zim had altered it to shoot water when said alien burst through the door.

Zink almsot jumped right out of her seat, it had been so quiet and she had been so preoccupied with what she was doing that she had almost forgotten where she was.

"Hey, what're you doin'?" Zim asked so casually it almost made Zink want to gauge his eyes out for interrupting her very important tinkering!

"Well I _was_ trying to figure out how you messed with this thing until _you_burst in ever so loudly!" Zink actually rarely ever snapped at anyone, unless they had barged in on her being ingenious uninvited, which just so happened to be the category that Zim fell into at that precise moment.

Zim cringed and took a small step back. "Oh, I'm sorry, I just wanted to know how things were coming." After a second he walked forward and loomed over her, peering at the laser on the table in front of her.

"Things are actually going pretty good! I already duplicated and tested all of those ones over there." Just as quickly as it had come her anger was gone and she was once again her cheerful self, pointing at a large shelf that was completely full with lasers that had been approved and were ready for battle.

"Wow, you really are amazing! Well I'll let you alone so you can finish up whatever it was you were doing, good night!" Zim smiled and headed for the exit when he remembered another reason why he had come down. "Hey, have you seen Noah around, it's awful late."

Zink looked up again and smiled. "Yeah, he's in the studio."

"What's he doing in there?" Zim didn't know he could play an instrument, or maybe he was just messing around, who knows.

"You don't know?" Zim shook his head. "That kid can play the drums, haven't you heard him!?"

"No, I haven't." Zim couldn't possibly figure out where he'd gotten that from, even he himself wasn't that musical.

Zink's eyes bugged for a second before she blinked and shook her head. "Well you have to hear him, but when you get to the studio don't open the door, he gets embarrassed when he knows that people are watching."

Zim slowly nodded and bid her good night once more, heading out the door and towards the lift to go one floor down. As he waited for it to stop his mind began to wander, he wasn't exactly down to Earth when it eventually did stop, what brought him back was the loud banging noises coming from down the hall.

It wasn't so much of noise as it was actual rhythm, like music but with only one instrument. For a second Zim wasn't sure if it was Noah or not, it just didn't seem like it could be. But sure enough, when he looked through the small window he saw the little Irken sitting behind the full set of drums just playing away.

Noah looked like he was really into what he was doing, his hands were moving in totally different directions but some how he seemed to stay in sync with whatever music was blasting out of the speakers. It wasn't until he looked up and saw Zim leaning in the doorway did he stop and turn it off.

"You know, if you keep this up you'll probably end up blowing your antennae off." Zim said with a smirk, then proceeded towards the small boy.

Noah was absolutely horrified that someone had actually been standing there for he didn't even _want_to know how long. Of course said apendages drooped a little as Zim came closer and gently lifted him off the seat and into a hug. "Uh, how long were you standing there?"

"Long enough to know that you need to go to bed." With that he set him down and the two went back upstairs.

* * *

"Sir, we've searched everywhere, we just can't find her!" Tik ran screaming up to his Tallest, flailing his arms about and hopping up and down like the complete idiot most people thought he was.

Red looked up from his slouched position in his chair, he had been looking for this particular Irken for some time and it was if she never existed, but it was now that Red needed her most, she was one of his most trusted soldiers, well, she _was_until a few years ago. "Are you positive that you've checked everywhere!? I can't do without her!" Red leaned over and glanced behind him, looking furiously at Tik.

"Everywhere that we know to look, Sir." Tik answered, his voice quivering from terror that his leader would do something horrible to him.

"Well then look everywhere else! I will not stop until she is found!" With that last order Tik hastily scurried out of the room and went to round up the search party... again.

As Red sat back in his chair to stare out into space one of the ComTechs turned in his seat and faced the currently annoyed ruler. "Sir, unidentified ships are approaching, should we let them pass?"

Red's antennae perked up and he sat up straight. "What type of ships are they?"

Before the smaller Irken could respond a large group of about twenty ships sped past the window, the one in front was about twice as large as the rest, indicating it was the leader. The unidentified ships looked like the Earthen battle planes that were used in wars, but these were painted black and green and were far larger then the ones on Earth.

"What on Irk...?" Red leaned forward and squinted his ruby eyes, he had a couple of guesses as to where they were from but he was praying that none of his ideas were correct. "Scan them, find out what they are!"

"Yes, Sir!" All of the ComTechs went to work at once, not one of them saying a word. It was a good minute or so before one of the other Irkens turned his head and with a tremble he spoke.

"Sir, they're Elfidians." That was he was able to say before he turned back around and remained still.

Red's eyes grew wide with minimal fear and concern, though the Elfidians were nature loving humanoids they sure could dish it out if they had to. Red wasn't particularly scared of them, it was just that there were a lot of them and enough could pose as a threat. "Where are they headed!?" he snapped, now angry and glaring daggers at whoever was brave enough to answer.

"Well, Sir, we can't tell, we just lost our connection with the ships. Should I send a transmission?" One of the ComTechs turned his head just enough to see Red out of the corner of his eye.

"No need, their leader is sending one to us, shall I answer it, Sir?" This one actually seemed calm no matter how upset his Tallest was.

Red let out a sigh and thought for a moment, dealing with one of the leaders could really annoy someone. After a minute or two he finally allowed him to answer, then _he _appeared on screen, Aranarth.

"What could _you_possibly want!?" Red scoffed, looking hatefully at the elf, his creepy pointed ears and strange skin tone, those awful yellow eyes and that HIDEOUS SMILE!

Ara scoffed just as much as Red had, only his was better. "I've heard that you've been giving our friend Zim a bit of trouble." As he said this he eyed Red disdainfully, those freaky antennae and abnormally thin midsection, those evil red eyes and UGLY UNIFORM!

For a breif moment the two just glared at each other before Red finally, and randomly, yelled at the other. "Oh yeah!? And why should _you_care!?" There was only one thing he could bring himself to hate more than the Elfidians, and that was love. Love just made him want to die painully but Ara just made him want to die.

"Well for goodness sakes Red, shouldn't you know everything there is to know about your finest soldier?" If there was one thing that Ara could never get bored of, it was annoying an Irken, specifically Red. He just loved the way Red would scrunch up his face and yell meaningless insults at him, it made him laugh. Laugh with superiority. Laugh with authority. And laugh just because he could.

That comment made Red scream unholey insults at Zim in his mind, but if he were to ever say them out loud everyone would question his authority... that is, if he ever actually _had_any. "Pffft, soldier!? He's a food service drone! Nothing more! Why would I even _want_to be associated with that... that... that THING!" Red was dangerously close to losing it.

"Sigh, you never were much for his family were you?" Ara suddenly put on a slightly sad expression, but only to toy with the fuming Irken in front of him.

"Tch, which one? Wait, don't answer that, I hate them both." Red didn't like Aneera or Noah, but they held no comparison to the hatred he felt for Zim's father. Just the thought of the pesky little worm made Red want to puke. He visibly shuddered and held back to urge to gag.

"Aww, well I'll tell them you said hello! Bye!" Aranarth then dissapeared and the screen reverted back to a window.

Red stood right where he was, clenching and unclenching the best fist he could make, did that elf honestly have to bring _them_into the conversation? He hated talking about Zim plenty enough, bring his family into the conversation just made everything worse. So to get the thought off his mind he left the room on a hunt for doughnuts.

* * *

Zim was laying silently on his bed, Noah had gone to bed about an hour ago and Zim happened to find that tablet that Zeira had given him, though now it was annoying him to no end.

On the screen was a clear picture of Zim, plain as day but above him, where his mother/father was _supposed_ to be there was nothing. Absolutely, totally and utterly... nothing. It made him so mad he couldn't hardly stand it, but he couldn't look away. In fact, most of the heads on the golden line were blacked out, only as you got closer to the top did they start to appear.

Zim was laying on his back with his arms out, looking angrily at the small thing when his door opened, though he paid it no mind. When he felt a presence beside him he sat up, but continued to stare at the screen, wanting so bad to figure out who the mystery person was. After a minute he felt a small touch to the base of his right antennae, but still he didn't fully acknowledge the person there, he merely leaned against them and sighed with annoyance.

"You looked troubled, can I help with anything?" As much as Zim figured, it was Aneera, who else would it have been?

He looked up and thought for a moment, then shook his head and continued to glare hatefully at the object in his hands, he could just break this thing if he wanted to, but he decided against it, it may hold other valuable information.

Aneera was silent for a second, waiting and watching, trying to figure out what he was so worked up about. "Who is that?" she asked, pointing to the dark silhouette above Zim's head.

"I don't know! And I wish I did! It's really annoying! Annoying because obviously there was much more to the lies that Red has been telling us, annoying because there might be other people in my life that I don't know or forgot and annoying because I HATE NOT KNOWING STUFF!" Yes he shouted, but it wasn't very loud, though loud enough to suggest that he was _really_ unhappy.

Once again Aneera had absolutely nothing to say to his comment, so she just kept quiet, still gently stroking his antennae, maybe that might calm him some, that would be nice.

A few more minutes passed by and she was about to ask him something but he got this look on his face like he had just had an epiphany. Then, without any warning at all he leaped from the bed and disappeared out through the door.

* * *

Aneera: Yay! I liked this chapter! And yes, they have help! Oh, and one more thing, if you guys didn't already know that Zim had a mom/dad then SHAME ON YOU! You need to pay more attention!

Zim: YAY! I love to annoy Red too, see?

Red: GO AWAY!

Zim: NO! WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Aneera: ... Good for you. Remember, REVIEWS MAKE ME HAPPY!

* * *


	20. The Hacker

As Zim jumped off his bed Aneera looked boredly at him. Just as he ran through the door and down the hall she gave a tired yawn and questioned whether she was really up to following him all the way down to the labs, which was most likely where he was going. After a moment's consideration she decided that she was tired but she probably wouldn't be able to go to sleep and there really was nothing better to do.

Zim was waiting on the lift in the middle of the living room, he anxiously watched as Aneera slowly made her way down the stairs. When she was about half way Zim began to bounce on his feet a little, wishing that she would go faster, this was important business! Finally she had made it to his side he commanded his now really upset computer, upon being woken up at that hour, to take them down.

"So, what's going on? I don't get it." Aneera looked up, her eyes heavy and a little over halfway shut.

Instead of answering her question Zim just looked at her. "Why aren't you in bed?"

"I couldn't sleep! Now tell me what's going on!" She hated when people tried to avoid answering question that she asked them, she honestly thought it was rude.

Zim thought for a moment, maybe because she was tired she would either not get it or just not really care, most likely not really care. "I'm going to try and hack into the Massive's computer, they've probably saved the deleted information on there somewhere."

For a few moments the ride down was silent, unil, "I still don't get it."

"That's okay, you don't have to." Zim gave her a hug of reassurance, saying that it wasn't really that important and it was nothing she needed to worry about.

Finally the lift stopped and the two stepped out, one eager and the other tired and slow. Zim skittered over to the giant screen that was mounted on the back wall, anxious to put his hacking skills to work. First he started up the system, something that took about five minutes, which was why this was his least favorite computer in the base.

Aneera walked up behind him and yawned, draping her arms around his neck and resting her head on his shoulder, it would have to do, there were no pillows and there was no way that she was going _all_ the way back upstairs.

"Any minute now..." Zim said to himself, he was starting to get a bit agitated because he was having to wait, he didn't like waiting. "There we go!"

The screen came up and Zim instantly went to work with his hacking. First, he had to connect the tablet thing to the computer, once that was done he had to go into it's hard drive and figure out where the files were taken from. For Zim, that was the easy part, finding the coding for the deleted information. It only took him about ten minutes before he had successfully found and saved it to his computer.

While he was doing all of this Aneera was watching in total confusion, she had absolutely no idea what he was doing, no idea that what it was was bad, and no idea just how much more trouble he could get into if he were to be found out. So instead of trying to get even a small bit of understanding she just kept quiet and watched.

"Okay, so now for my favorite part, hacking!" Smiling, Zim opened up a link to the Massive's main data base, not too hard, breaking those security codes were easy. But the more files you opened the harder it got, they got more complicated and confusing.

Recovering deleted files was never a hard task, for Irkens, all information had value, they never got rid of anything. So it was there, but it was just a matter of finding it and then restoring it, that was the hard part.

Zim was easily able to get into the 'recycle bin's' mainframe, even if something was deleted it was still there, you just had to go through the recycle bin to get it.

"What's that?" Aneera lifted one arm and pointed to the screen where a long line of numbers were.

"That is a security code." As soon as Zim said this it was gone, now that file was out of the way. The computer screen now showed a list of folders, a very long list of folders. "Oh boy." Zim knew this was going to be tedious, but this was insane!

Sure the files had names, but that didn't really help much. The majority of them had numbers and only a handful had actual letters. So who's to say which it would be?

"There it is." Aneera once again pointed to the screen, this time to a folder that was named 'T.T.F.T.', an obvious give away.

Zim studied the folder for a moment before remembering that that was the name of the file on the tablet, this must have been where Zeira got the information from, or at least some of it. Zim quickly opened the file and was excited for a moment, but when he saw the vast number of names his heart sank, there was no way he'd be able to go through every one of them! There had to have been hundreds if not more!

He scanned the page for anything else that popped out at him, maybe a file with just the ones that were missing maybe? He scroleld down and continued to look at them all, finally giving up. "There's just no way I'm gonna be able to find that file, there's too many of them."

Just as Zim was making one last look Aneera's hand came up for a third time. "Try that one." This time her finger was pointed a t a folder labeled 'gdln', whatever that was supposed to mean.

Zim didn't argue, he just did as she told him. Hacking into this folder took him a while, it was pretty big and took up a good chunk of memory so that didn't help. The security code for this one was relatively small, it only had five numbers and this one required a password. "Great, a password."

From past experiences Aneera had learned one thing, whenever the Tallest used a five letter word it usually only meant one thing.

"It's doughnut." she said bluntly, as if the answer was clear as day.

"What?" Zim looked over and stared for a second, there were over thousands of five letter words, thousands, and she came up with one in a couple of seconds?

"It's doughnut! Almost every password they use is doughnut! Trust me, I would know." she stated matter-of-factly.

Zim went over the word in his mind and spelled it three or four times. "But it has eight letters, not five!"

Aneera sighed and scowled fora second. "Don't spell it d-o-u-g-h-n-u-t, spell it d-o-n-u-t. That's how they spell it!" The Tallest could never really spell that well, so to her it was pretty obvious.

Once again Zim didn't argue, he only did. He felt stupid for thinking that they could possibly be dumb enough to-... "Well I'll be, man they're stupid!"

The file instantly opened and Zim was relieved that there wasn't nearly as many in here as there was in the previous folder. But he didn't exactly know what he was looking for this time, 'gdln' made absolutely no sense to him whatsoever. However, he happened to notice that all of the files in that last folder were all labeled with people's names so he had a hunch that this folder contained a certain group of names.

"Okay, what am I looking for?" He leaned forward, bringing Aneera with him, and began to intently read and reread the names, there were only about a hundred names in this one. As he scanned each of the folders he saw a few names that were familiar, he remembered seeing them on the tablet so he knew he was in the right place but where exactly had he seen them? "Of course!"

For the first time in a great while Zim had an epiphany, 'gdln' stood for golden line, or the group of Irkens specifically directly related to Tallest Teal, it was right in front of him!

As Zim continued to search he noticed that Tallest Teal was the first on the list and Zim was the last, so the order of the files was the same as on the tablet. "Meaning that this one," Zim clicked on the one that was to left of his name. "Is the mystery person!" In that brief moment that it took for the file to open Zim just might as well have been the happiest living thing alive at that moment, but his happiness was shattered when he saw the security code for this one, it was positively huge.

Aneera actually had been paying attention, however little it might've been, and her eyes opened a little more, this could take a while. "Wow, how're you gonna figure that one out?"

Zim was in total shock, whoever this person was, Zephyre as the folder suggested, he must have been pretty darn important or something because the code for this was so unnecessarily gigantic it wasn't even funny. "I really don't know."

* * *

It had been five hours and Zim was only about halfway through the code, he was so tired but he was so determined, he wanted to sleep but he wanted to know who this person was, though he had a strong feeling that it must have been his father, if he even had one. Maybe he really did have a family other than Aneera and Noah, maybe there was more to the lies that Red had told them, maybe-

There was a small sneeze that came from Aneera, who had fallen asleep in Zim's lap just a few hours before. She had declared that she didn't have the energy to go back upstairs and he was the softes thing around so he was to be her makeshift pillow. Of course he didn't mind, she was perfectly fine to fall asleep on him. Well that's what he thought until she began to drool, then he slightly regretted it, but not enough to care.

Zim looked down and smiled, to him she had the absolute cutest sneeze ever, but unfortunately she wasn't awake so that he could tease her about it, he always told her she sounded like a little mouse. Instead he just smiled and stroked her antennae, that usually made her fall asleep, actually that was how she fell asleep in the first place, though Zim wasn't quite paying much attention to what he was doing.

Once had made sure that she was still asleep he went back to work, which was actually him just staring at computer, trying so hard not evoke his wrath upon it. He knew very well that this job was going to take some time but still, five hours, it shouldn't take him five hours to decode a file! Now if it was a zipped document than that would be different, but this wasn't so he couldn't figure out what the problem was. He knew how to do it, it was really just a big puzzle, sort of like a SuDoKu, figuring out what letters or characters were supposed to go in place of the numbers. But in order to do that you had to first figure out why the numbers were in that specific order, that was the hard part of decoding files, especially deleted ones.

Zim heaved a sigh and scowled, the first part only took him about an hour and a half to do but it was like the other half was a completely different code all together. "Why is it like that?" That had to have been the hundredth time he'd asked himself that, but this time he decided to look at it a different way, maybe that would help.

Then it suddenly came to him, he had another epiphany, just suddenly it came to him. He honestly couldn't figure out how or why he didn't see it before, it was just the same code but backwards! DUH! He sighed and smiled, then typed in the correct corresponding letters and characters. Though it was sad because it took him five hours just to figure that out.

"Yes!" he whispered, taking Aneera's current position into great consideration, so he kept quiet and screamed things inside his head instead. He waited anxiously as the file uploaded onto the screen, but had yet another moment of happiness crushed. Yes the file had come up but the majority of the information was blacked out or had a special code over it that only the Tallest's could access via Control Brain.

Five hours of work for nothing, that was definitely not a good feeling.

Zim slumped back down in his chair and cursed under his breath, something he did only when he was really pissed off, which was like right now, he had just spent five full hours trying to figure out the second half of the code and when he finally got it it _still_wouldn't show him the information. Zim quietly growled to himself, all for not... or maybe not. And idea came up in his head. He right clicked on the picture of the Irken, that was much older than he was, and saved it to his computer.

Aneera silently stirred in his lap, yawning quietly and shifted a little, then she was still. She continued to lay still for a second before she sneezed again, but this time she jerked so much she actually sneezed herself awake. "Huh!? Where am I!? What's going on!?" she said quickly, jerking her head around, momentarily confused, until she looked up and found Zim staring down at her.

"Are you okay?" he asked with a smile, reaching one hand down to lightly pet her antennae.

She didn't answer him right away, she just smiled and let her head fall back into his lap, them murmured a small "Yeah." Then she was still once more and a small purring sound began to gently fill the room.

Zim smiled to himself and continued to look at the screen, finally deciding that he could resume this tomorrow... well actually later that day after they had gotten some decent sleep. So he slid his USB Disk into one of the slots on his computer and saved the picture on that, maybe someone else will know more about this mystery person.

He then looked down and smiled again saying, "Come on, let's go to bed." He started to lift her up but she started whining and shaking her head.

"No, I don't want to, I'm fine right here." With that she went limp and almost made Zim fall off of his little chair, she may not look it but she was actually pretty heavy.

"But I'm not, now let's go." Once again he slid his arms around her and tried to stand up. He did but it took him several tries before he was on his feet again with Aneera leaning lazily against him. Then he picked her up and carried her back upstairs, neither said a word or made any noise. By the time they had finally gotten to the house Zim was so exhausted and weak he could barely cross the room, let alone go _up_ stairs.

It had been at least twenty hours since he had had any sleep whatsoever, he was tired, he wanted to go to bed and he wanted to sleep. However, fate was not acting in his favor, he was way to worn out to walk up stairs so he just stood and stared at them angrily for a few seconds before determination and willpower started to kick in. He slowly began to trek up each stair, growing weaker with every step.

About ten steps and five minutes later Zim had finally climbed the mountain of stairs and was now shuffling towards his room, dragging his feet as he went. When he saw that the door was open already he decided to that maybe fate wasn't all bad, now he wouldn't have to torture himself just to open his door. He nudged his door open and the sight of his bed just made him want to cry tears of joy, so he now quickened his pace and as soon as he reached the edge of his bed he set Aneera down and literally fell to his knees, resting his head on the comforter.

Sleep consumed him so quickly that he didn't even remember actually standing back up and laying down, but he didn't care.

* * *

When the two woke up it was noon and the sun was already shining fully through the window, there was also a very sharp pounding on the door. Neither of these made them get up, they just ignored it and tried to fall back asleep.

"HEY! YOU GUYS! THERE'S SOMEBODY HERE TO SEE YOU!" Noah's voice shattered any hope of sleep there was left and the two finally just decided that they'd live with the small amount of sleep they had, which wasn't very much.

"We're COMING!" Zim sat up and burried his face in his hands with a groan, the sun was not helping his grungy state of being. The sound of birds what was really getting to him though, he just wanted to squeeze them all until they exploded, besides they didn't really do anything and nobody would miss them.

The pounding on the door continued until Noah decided to just open the door and scream at them to get up. "Hey! GET UP! They need to talk to you about something important!" Noah had now started to fling his arms around and jump up and down like a fool.

Zim looked at him and scowled, not that he was mad, he was just in a really bad mood. "Who are they?"

"I don't know! But they're weird looking! They have creepy yellow eyes and giant pointy ears!" Noah screamed, but not loud enough for who ever he was referring to to hear him.

Zim sighed, "Ara, alright, I'm comin'." He then picked himself up and straightened out his uniform, it was all wrinkled because he had been too tired to change out of it.

"Thank you." Noah replied, walking behind Zim as he exited his room and went downstairs. Once he was in the living room he smiled.

Aranarth looked him up and down before he said anything. "Well, don't you look horrible." he pointed out with a smile.

Zim mustered up the best laugh he could, Ara always loved to make fun of him, even if he just was messing around. "I'm running on four hours of sleep and seven cans of soda, horrible ain't that bad."

"Really? What were you doing?" He had actually seen Zim like this plenty of times before so his guess was that Zim had been at a computer for about six hours at the least.

"Well I was hacking into the Massive's computer last night trying to recover a deleted file, but it didn't work, all I got was a picture." Zim pouted and scrunched up his face, he was still mad. "It took me five hours to get into that file and when I finally did almost the whole thing had a CBO on it!"

Ara cringed, that must have been pretty bad. "What'd they look like then?"

"Just like any normal Irken really, well any that grew to about my height anyways." Zim had now sat down and smiled at Kasandra, Ara's daughter, who was sitting oh so quietly next to the other.

Ara thought for a moment, a picture usually didn't do much good for the Irkens, they were all clones except for the PAKless ones, but even then they still looked so much alike. "What was his name?"

"I'm pretty sure it was Zephyre, but I've never heard of him, have you?" he asked, looking questioningly at Ara.

"Big Z! I remember him! I wonder what's doing now? I haven't talked to him in forever!" Aranarth then proceeded to day dream about his earlier years, not caring that others were there.

Zim looked at him in shock, his eyes got all big and his antennae perked up a little. "You know him!?"

"Of course I know him! We used to be best friends! But then I don't know what happened, I've been out of contact with him so I don't even know where he lives anymore." Ara looked down in disappointment, but then remembered that task at hand and looked up again. "So, I have news, big news!"

"Ooh, really? What's the big news!?" Zim did his best to sound interested, though truthfully he was still too tired to care.

Ara cleared his throat and prepared himself for the screaming tantrum that he knew Zim was about to throw. "Red's planning an attack in two weeks."

* * *

Aneera: Wow, this didn't take me very long.

Zim: WHO IS THAT PERSON!?

Aneera: I can't tell you that! You'll have to find out later!

Zim: HOW MUCH LATER!?

Aneera: The end of the book!

Zim: CURSE YOOOOUUUU!

Aneera: STOP YELLING!

Zim: ..................... NO!


	21. Discoveries

At first Zim had to mentally stop and think for a moment, he couldn't have said two weeks... could he? Then, "WHAT!?" Zim screamed so loud that Aneera was practically flung out of bed and an audible 'eep!' was heard from upstairs. "What do you mean two weeks!?"

"Exactly what I said, TWO WEEKS! My fleet is already at the island, I just came here to get you. No go on and pack, WE NEED TO GO!" With that Ara shooed him away and Zim went to go pack his things with a far away expression, this had come on just a little too quickly.

Noah watched as his father went along, he didn't know what he should , he didn't really get what was going in the first place-. "So, what do I need to do?"

Ara thought for a moment but they were interrupted by Kasandra. "What about that flying moose thing?" she asked, looking sweetly at Noah.

"Oh! You mean Minimoose?" As if on cue the little moose came flying into the living room and right into Noah's face, squeaking happily as he cuddled his Master.

"Awww, he's so cute!" Kasandra cooed over the little miniature moose, telling him over and over how adorable he was. And of course Minimoose didn't object, it wasn't often that people actually commented on his cuteness.

Just as Ara was about to open his mouth and scream there was a loud crash that came from upstairs. Everyone looked up and saw Gir running across the landing from Zim's room to Aneera's room, where he smacked into the door and fell down.

"Nooooo!" he screamed, letting tears flow down his metallic cheeks and onto the floor. "Why!? Aahhhh!" After he finished screaming and crying he stood and walked down stairs as if none of that had taken place. "Hi! Whatcha doin'?"

Nobody said anything for fear that the little robot might possibly do that again. Instead they all stared and leaned slightly away, just in case.

"Nya." Minimoose said quietly, then he floated away to find his other Master and see if he needed any help, hoping to get away from Gir.

Ara leaned in closer and stared, he remembered this robot from somewhere, it's spazzyness gave it away. "Why are you so familiar?"

Gir looked up and smiled. "EEEEE! It's Mr. Pointy Ears! HIYA!" He then jumped onto the couch and grinned stupidly at the other, whom he didn't know. "OoooOOOooo, you're pretty!"

Kasandra tilted her head in confusion, "Uhh, thank you?" Then, as sweetly as she could, she shoved the fake S.I.R. Unit off of the couch and went to go find something to do, with Noah quickly following suit.

"So, I'm guessing it's stupid." Kasandra said, as she looked around.

They had wondered off into the labs, not really paying attention to where they were going. The room they had walked into was slightly smaller than the rest and had only one thing in it, a giant computer.

Noah walked over and sat on the little chair and curiously turned it on. "Yeah, but we love him anyways." he replied. The computer booted up fairly slowly, something that greatly annoyed him, he was so used to everything being to advanced and fast, he just wanted to toss this one out the window.

"What are you doing?" Kasandra leaned over Noah's shoulder and peered at the screen, which she noted was positively huge.

"Just looking, I've never seen this computer before." Once the computer was up and running he fished around in some documents and found himself looking through 'recent documents', hoping to find something interesting. "Hello, what's this?" In the recent documents he had found some documents labeled with security codes.

"Looks like somebody was trying to hack into some encoded documents. Wonder where they're from." Kasandra leaned forward and looked closely at the labels, trying to remember where she'd seen those codes before. "Hold on, let me see it for a second." She took the cursor away from him and rolled over one of the documents, holding it there so it would display more info, maybe about where it came from.

Noah sat patiently and watched as she continued to look thoughtfully at different documents. Every once in a while she would scrunch up her face and scowl at the screen, then after another second or two she would sigh and get really annoyed. "Ah ha! Here we go!" Obviously she had found some sort of file that gave more detailed descriptions of the files that were on the computer's hard drive.

"What, what'd you find?" Noah looked sideways and studied her facial expression, she looked pleased. "What is it!?" he asked again, hoping to get some insight on what she was so happy about.

"Look here, it tells you everything, even where the documents originally came from." She scrolled down the screen a little bit until she found the location of the files. "Oh no..." Her eyes widened and she held her breath, standing up straight again.

Noah looked from Kasandra to the screen, he did this a few times before he found what she was fussing about. He skimmed down until it showed the location, and it said 'Document Origin: IRKEN MASSIVE'. "What? That can't be right! Nobody here is able to actually hack into the Massive, it's security is way too tight!"

"Apparently someone was able to do it, because it's been done." As she was saying this she opened the most recent decoded file, hoping that that might give a hint of who might have had the stupidity to actually try something like that. She pulled up what ended up being Zephyre's profile page, but again the info was blacked out. "Huh, how odd."

"What?" Noah looked back at her again.

"Nothing, I was just wondering why somebody would want to see _his_profile page." Kasandra wasn't really surprised, just a little confused.

"Why? What's wrong with him?" Noah was quite confused himself.

Se looked down and smiled. "Oh, I know him, but I can't see why anybody here would have any connection with him... Ah well, we should probably get going, I'm sure you're parents are close to being done."

Noah took one last good look at the Irken on the screen and then shut down the computer. "Okay. Um, could you not say anything 'cause I don't know if I'm allowed to be down here." He smiled sheepishly as they walked back to the lift and headed back up to the house level.

"Sure, I wouldn't do that, I don't want to get in trouble either." Kasandra smiled back and crossed her arms, waiting as the lift continued to rise up. But instead of continuing it stopped at another level where Zink was waiting to get on as well.

"Oh, hey Zink, I sort of forgot you were here, um we have to go." Noah stepped over and let the shorter Irken inside.

"Oh I know, your dad told me. I've been packing. I got to duplicate it about a thousand times already!" This obviously made Zink very happy with herself and she pulled out a small cube with a glowing blue energy emitting from inside.. "They're all in here!" She began to toss it up and down, catching and releasing it repeatedly.

Noah's eyes got wide as he watched the cube go up and down in a rythmical pattern. "You mean that you fit all of those lasers inside of that little thing!?"

Zink's smile only got wider. "Uh huh! It's an infinite matter cube, you could probably fit in there if you wanted to!" Zink held the small contraption out towards Noah, who instinctively leaned away from it.

"Um, no thanks, I'll pass." He gently pushed it back to Zink, who shrugged and held it behind her, letting a single arm reach out and store the cube into her PAK, so that she wouldn't have to carry it herself.

At the sight of the metalic appendage Noah jumped away and backed up against the wall, putting his hands against the wall. He started shaking and his face twisted into what someone would like had they just seen a monster. "What was that thing!?" he screeched.

Zink and Kasandra eyed him with a bit of 'You look like you need some medicine' and then looked at each other for a second. Once they looked back at him he started to get it, that must be normal.

"What do you mean 'what was that'?" Zink was trying so hard to keep a straight face and not laugh.

"I mean, WHAT WAS THAT THING!?" Now he looked a bit put off, he thought they were making fun of him, which they kind of were.

Kasandra looked away while Zink explained. "Do you know what a PAK is? You know, the life support system that all... well with exception of you, Irkens have. Along with keeping us alive it's also good for miscellaneous things, such as storage. Well unfortunately our arms are too short to reach back there so we have these metal arms that do that kind of stuff for us. They're only deadly when they have to be."

Before that last comment Noah had been listening and he remotely understood what she was talking about, but once she said that last sentence he forgot everything else that was mentioned. "Eh? You mean that those things can _kill_ somebody!?" Right about now was when his eyes took up most of his face.

"What, you didn't know that? Jeez, what have you're parents been teaching you?" Zink shook her head and sighed, there was obviously much this child needed to know.

"Well gee, considering I don't HAVE ONE it would be pointless to try and explain it to me, don't you think?" Noah then crossed his arms and squinted, to him, they seemed useless anyways. He was able to function perfectly fine without one! What was the point of explaining it if it had no benefit to him?

Zink eyed him for a moment before dropping the conversation and staying quiet.

The rest of the ride only lasted about ten seconds and when it had reached the ground level everyone stepped off eagerly, Noah going in the complete opposite direction as Zink. Kasandra followed closely behind but watched as Zink went upstairs, took that lift up through the wall and disappeared.

"Hey! Watch where you're going with that thing!" Zim's shout was heard loudly from upstairs and Ara stepped out of his room with a box held tightly in his arms.

"Don't worry, I got it! Besides, it's just a bunch of useless junk anyway!" Ara tilted his head back to aim the comment more directly at the very close to fuming Irken stomping along behind him.

Zim stopped right where he was and scrunched up his face. "It is NOT useless junk! It's very valuable! But I guess you wouldn't know." With that last comment he noticed that his voice got a bit higher pitch and his old attitude was coming back fairly quickly.

Ara smirked at him. "Oh look, it's the almighty Invader Zim! Help me I'm scared!" The he began to laugh and once again began his trekk back downstairs.

"Yeah, you better be!" Zim clenched his fists and squinted his eyes real tight, trying to make himself look menacing, but not really looking any more scary than a puppy with some serious mental issues.

"Aw come on, aren't you gonna do the laugh? Or can you not do it anymore?" Ara looked at him pitifully, he hadn't heard Zim do his evil laugh in years, he was curious to know if Zim was still able to pull that one off.

Zim growled and stuck out his bottom lip. "You dare question me!? Of course I can! Here I go, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" As if pretending he was his old self Zim did actually laugh exactly like he used to when he was younger, even his voice was the same octave it had been, which was pretty weird.

Noah flinched and looked a bit freaked out by this little display, but what happened next had him on the floor crying.

Aneera stuck her head out of her bedroom doorway and looked real surprised. "What just died!?" Now see, the funny part was, she was serious. She had actually thought something had died, via Gir.

While Noah was busy trying not hack up his internal organs Ara was biting his lip, not wanting to put on a show. But poor Zim just stood where he was and hung his head, feeling so embarrassed that it wasn't even worth it to cry.

"I'm serious! It sounded like some old lady!" And still the fits of laughter continued, more violent than before, and she just stood there like a moron.

Now Zim sniffed a little and turned around to look at her. "It wasn't an old lady and nobody died!"

"Well then what was it!?" Now she had migrated to the bottom of the steps, just to make sure Noah would still be able to breath after this.

"It was me." Admitting to that was not easy, especially when the person that you are admitting it to is gonna look at you like you were the most stupidest thing there ever was.

Which was exactly what Aneera did. "What do you mean it was you?"

"That was my evil laugh." he stated simply, feeling no need to try and start some weird argument.

She looked blankly at him, man did she feel stupid. "Oh, I'm sorry!" She ran over and gave him an apologetic hug. "Well it sounded like you were hurting yourself!"

This only made Zim pout even more, he couldn't believe that she, his own wife, had never heard his evil laugh, and then when he did do it she thought something died! "Humph." he said, looking angrily over at the door, which decided to just fly open at that moment.

"Hey guys, need any help?" Dib, of course, walked into the house, but paused when he saw the strange scene before him. "What happened?"

Noah had just recovered from his laughing fit but as soon as Dib asked what had been going on he couldn't help but start up again. "Hahaha! You missed it! IT WAS HILARIOUS!" He was once again on the floor, clutching his stomach.

"What was hilarious?" Dib looked around and tried to understand what was going on, but to no prevail. "I don't get it!"

Ara, not really caring that he didn't know the boy, walked over and stood next to Dib, placing the box at his feet. "Well I suppose it is my fault, I started teasing him," he pointed over at Zim. "I told him to do his evil laugh but when he did... well she thought something died."

Dib had to think for a moment, he remembered that laugh as though he had just heard it for the first time, but it took him a minute to visualize what had happened. "Oh my goodness!" Then he too, began to have a laughing fit.

Aneear looked up and frowned. "It's not funny! I didn't know!... STOP LAUGHING AT ME!" she yelled, now getting a bit put off.

"Relax, we're only havin' fun." Ara smiled sweetly and stopped giggling, then went up to the roof to put to box in Zim's cruiser.

Gaz, who hadn't said a word or even moved during the fiasco, now inched over to the couch and sat down, resuming her ignoring of everybody, that is, until Gir came around.

"Hiya! Did you like your present!? DID YA!? Minimoose and me stayed up all night to make it for you!" Gir jumped onto the couch and started to repeatedly asked questions like these until Gaz had had enough.

She looked up evily from her game, then, with one hand, shoved the little robot off the couch and onto the floor. "Yes." was all she said.

Gir smiled and clapped his hands together. "YAY! GAZZYKINZ LIKED IT!"

Zim had overheard the conversation and decided to invite himself in. "Oh, what'd you get!?"

Instantly Gaz's face turned bright red and she refused to answer, she just kept her head low so that no one could see. It was embarrassing for Gir to talk about it but for Zim to ask what it was? That was pure torture.

"Come on! You wouldn't even tell me!" Dib migrated over towards her but she scooted away from him and hissed, she wanted to be left alone about the subject.

Seeing that there was only one way to do this Zim told the rest to go finish packing, once they were gone he sat as close to Gaz as she would allow. Then he looked at her at smiled. "Really, what was it?"

Once again there was no answer, so he just scooted closer, hoping he could annoy it out of her. Dib had seen what he was trying to do and eagerly joined in, though knowing full well what it meant when they got home, one heck of a pounding.

Gaz started to feel slightly claustrophobic, there were way too many people that were way too close for comfort, but she was cornered. It would have been less traumatizing had she left the thing at home, but now that she had the present with her, that only made it worse. "Go away." she hissed, not taking on eye off her game.

Zim scowled, this wasn't working, so he just scooted closer, but Dib stayed right where he was, not wanting to feel the wrath here and at home. "Why won't you tell us?"

"Because it's none of your business!" With that she turned away from him, but made a grave mistake. She forgot about the trinket, it had been in her dress pocket, and now it had fallen out for all to see.

Zim saw it and quickly, but carefully, snatched it up and dove for the other end of the couch, hoping to get a good look at it before Gaz noticed. He looked down, but he didn't expect what he saw, he saw a small glass statue of himself, perfect in every way possible. He sat up and stared at it, not knowing what to think of it.

He had had it for all about four seconds before Gaz had any realization that it had been gone. She looked down and didn't see it, already starting to feel sick, but when she saw who had it she went numb.

Zim continued to look at it, and then his cheeks started to turn a faint red, and he quickly handed it back to Gaz, now understanding why it was so important.

Dib hadn't said a word since he saw the thing, but after it registered and he knew what it was and why Gaz was so protective of it, he started to giggle. "Wow Gaz, wow."

She looked up and glared so dangerously that he almost peed his pants he was so scared, thankfully he was spared, she didn't feel like evoking her wrath in front of Zim. "You're lucky, you know that?" she spat, now clutching the little trinket protectively in her arms.

"Hey, everything is all packed, come on, we have to leave!" Ara shouted from the landing, jerking his head towards the lift, they were finally ready to leave and prepare for battle!

* * *

Aneera: WOOT! It's gettin' good!

Zim: That was not right.

Gaz: You will all pay.

Aneera: I thought it was cute!

Zim: AND YOU! How could you!? You thought my evil laugh sounded like something was dying! You are mean.

Aneera: Yes, yes I am.


	22. The Island

Zim, Dib and Gaz all got up from the couch and slowly started heading for the lift, but then a thought came to Zim's mind, something he probably should have thought of earlier. "Um, guys? We can't all fit in the Cruiser."

Dib momentarily stopped, that's right, the cruiser was small. "Oh wait, don't you have two ships? I think I remember you using the other one to fend off Peepi, right?"

"I think so," Zim started. "Oh, you mean my Voot Runner. That one is still broken from when I crashed it through the buildings. So no, all I have is the cruiser." Zim now did vaguely recalled using his Runner at some point, but exactly when seemed to have slipped his mind.

"But you're still taking it right?" Dib couldn't think that Zim would actually leave one of his ships behind.

Zim looked at him all weird. "Of course I am, but it won't fly so I'm gonna have Zink tow it for me since she has her ship."

Dib nodded, but then thought of something else. "We aren't going with you are we?" To think they were going to a remote island and living with absolutely no humans at all gave Dib this strange feeling. It wasn't that he didn't trust Zim, it was just that he didn't know if it was a good idea or not, having them be so close to the people that wanted this planet's doom.

"Of course you're coming! I'm not gonna leave you here! If they were to find you here they might be able to find some clue as to where the island is!" Zim explained, acting like this was just so obvious and Dib was a fool for not coming to the conclusion himself.

Gaz glanced up and shook her head, Zim's ego was coming back but that wasn't what annoyed her, it was his voice, it was starting to get a higher pitch. She shuddered at the thought of being stuck around the Zim that first came to Earth, the annoying little freak.

Dib smiled and also picked up on that. "You're starting to get just like you're old self again. I kind of missed that Zim, he was fun."

They had now arrived inside of the roof where four shiny space ships were being momentarily docked. Two of them belonged to Zim, his Runner and Cruiser, another one looked Irken and must have been Zink's. Though the last one looked a bit more like an Earth ship, at least on the outside anyways.

They watched as Aranarth and Kasandra got into the more Earth looking ship, Aneera and Noah got into the Cruiser and Zink got into her Cruiser, but it looked different than Zim's, her's was a bit more streamlined and built for speed.

"Well I suppose you guys could ride with Zink, or if you want to you can get in the Runner, but whatever suits you." Zim then walked over to his Cruiser and got into the pilot's seat, closing the bubble overhead.

Dib and Gaz got into Zink's ship, not really wanting to be stuck in the broken Runner, something might happen.

Once everyone was situated Zim opened the roof and he was the first out, expertly flying the little ship. Ara had flown out second and Zink tagged along behind them, dragging the Voot Runner with her. She started reaching for her cloaking devise when Dib appeared next to her.

"I don't think you'll need that, the humans know." he smiled down at her.

"Oh yeah, I forgot." She smiled too and continued to follow the ship in front of her.

Back in Zim's ship it was starting to feel a bit cramped, Zim, Aneera, Noah, Gir and Minimoose had some how miraculously squeezed into the small ship, but how was still a mystery. So to make things a little better Zim had scooted forward and Aneera was now sitting behind him, holding on for dear life.

"Are you sure you know how to fly this thing?" she asked, knowing that it was probably a stupid question.

Zim looked back and scowled. "Of course! It _is_ my ship!" and with that he turned back around and said no more.

"Uh huh, and when I asked if you knew how to drive you said yes. And you ended up giving me a heart attack! So if I can't trust you in a car than how do you expect me to trust you with a space ship!?" She had not forgotten and was going to hold that one against him.

Zim only smirked at the argument she was starting, he had something too. "Yeah, but what about that time that we went to visit Kairi and when we found out that Dib was trying to break in again how did we get home?" He could still remember the feeling he had when that had happened.

Aneera glared at him and then sunk back down in the seat. "Touche." She did suppose that riding on the back of a dragon couldn't be any less dangerous than flying in a Voot Cruiser.

Zim smiled with victory and said something that had everyone go mute. "VICTORY! Victory for Zim!" It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

After a second or two Gir screamed with happiness. "Yay! MASTER IS HIS OLD SELF AGAIN!" He proceeded to clap his hands and bounce around in the back of the ship.

"What was that?" Noah came up next to Zim and looked at him, not really understanding where that had come from.

"Man, you guys don't really know me do you?" Zim asked playfully, he knew neither of them had known him when he was the 'Almighty Invader Zim', even though Aneera had known him when he was still young she never actually witnessed that side of him.

Aneera decided that maybe it was best if she didn't ask. "Okay, so we don't know _that_ you, but I'm starting to get the feeling that we'd be better off leaving it that way."

Zim was about to comment but his intercom started to beep. "Hey Zim, how well are you at fighting in your Cruiser?" It was Ara, and by the sound of it he was worried.

"Are you kidding!? I was the best pilot in the Academy!" he replied.

"Good, 'cause we're getting a reading. It seems that Red sent in a few Fighter Jets in to scope us out, think you can take 'em?" As Ara said this Zim saw as his ship rolled to the right, revealing off in the distance what he was talking about.

Zim only smirked at the Jets, finally, some action! "Tch, when I get done with them they'll be begging for mercy!" With that last comment Zim sped up and passed all three ships in front of him. "Hold on! This might get a little rough!" He then scanned the sky for the small Jets that had been seen, quickly spotting one.

The cruiser did a roll the right, avoiding a laser from the Jet, then righted itself again. Zim smiled and began to pick up speed, going head first towards the other ship. Once he was close enough he pulled back and the Cruiser shot up and over the Jet, now he was following it. Zim decided to use his lasers on this guy, just to warm up a bit. He took out the engines first, then the ship began to lose control and went into a nose dive.

"Ha! The sucker isn't even trying!" Zim piloted his ship so that he was falling right next to the diving plane and shot one last laser at the cockpit, making sure that that one was a goner. "Now for the other ones!"

Meanwhile Gir and Minimoose were being banged on just about every wall inside the Cruiser, there had been no extra seats, seeing as there was only two and Noah had taken up the last one. Speaking of whom was clutching the edges of his seat with his claws and praying that it would all be over soon, not knowing because he had tightly shut his eyes.

Though the person who had it worse was Aneera, sitting right behind the pilot while he continued to scream and curse at the other Jets for being so inferior was a bit traumatizing. Trying not to think too much about what was going on she had tightly wrapped both arms around Zim's waist and buried her face into the back of his uniform, repeatedly saying a small phrase that was supposed to be comforting.

"Hey!" Zim twisted his head around just in time to see another Jet zip by him, almost clipping the side of the Cruiser as it did so. Zim pulled some leavers and twisted a knob here and there, then prepared to make a quick 'U' turn. He yelled at everyone to hold on, whcih wasn't a problem seeing as they already were. Then he yanked back on the controls and sharply turned the ship the left, he was now in hot pursuit, ready to fry that Fighter Jet until there was nothing left.

Zim's intercom started beeping again. "Dang Zim! How'd you learn to fly like that!? You're amazing!" Ara was practically screaming his praise into the mic, but tried to keep it low enough so he wouldn't distract Zim from what he was doing.

"Well when you have my amazingness it really isn't that hard." he said, noticing that his ego was emerging again. After that he said no more and was focused only on the Jet in front of him, which was heading straight for Zink. "Oh no you don't!" Zim fired laser after laser, trying to take out one of the wings but not hit Zink, that was pretty difficult.

"Hey Zim! WATCH IT!" Zink's voice screamed over the intercom, but he could see her just fine, he was headed straight for her. "If you so much as scratch my Star Cruiser I'll drop you're Runner! YOU HEAR ME!?"

"Yeah yeah, I hear ya! Just keep quiet and I'll keep the damage at a minimum!" He chuckled a bit and smiled as he flew past her, but all she did was glare furiously at him and ball her fists.

"Zim! I'm warning you! One little scratch and you can say goodbye to your ship!" Zink shrieked, barring her fangs in anger, she had put a lot of time and effort into upgrading and reprogramming her Cruiser after the last time Zim sabotaged it and she wasn't about to let it happen again just because of his cocky attitude.

Aneera glanced at Zink just before she left her sight. "Will you cut it out!?"

Zim looked back and smiled. "Relax, I'm just havin' fun! It's not like I'd actually try and put a dent in that tin can anyways." Once he turned his attention back to the Jet in front of it he quickly fired a few shots at it, now that nothing else was in the way he had a perfectly clear shot. In a matter of seconds yet another plane went down in flames, thankfully this time they were over water so it wouldn't fall on anybody's house.

"Alright! Go Dad!" Noah shouted, pumping his fists up in the air at the sight of the explosion. He hadn't seen action like this, at least not close up like he was seeing now, it made him get excited, maybe that was because he was such a pyro.

"WEEEEEEOOOOOOOO!" Gir and Minimoose were also contributing to the chants and exclamations, though they probably didn't fully understand the situation.

"Nya!" Minimoose hollered, quickly floating to the front of the Cruiser, he'd seen something fly by just below them. "Squeak! SQUEAK!" He started to wiggle his right front stub of a paw, motioning for Zim to turn back around towards the others. "NYAAAAA!"

"Okay okay! Calm down!" Zim quickly turned the ship around and headed back, but when he did he could see one last Jet flying circles around the others. He growled and jerked the Cruiser forward, making it go at least twice as fast. "Hang on!" He could see the Fighter Jet bank right, away from the others, it was trying to lure him away.

The intersom beeped again, but when this person talked it wasn't one from Zim's side, it was the Irken in the Jet. "Give it up defect! You can't take me down!"

Zim instantly recognized the voice. "IX! YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THIS!" He knew Ix from flight training, Ix was always jealous because Zim was the better pilot, but that was back then, he didn't know about now.

"Ooooh, I'm so scared! BRING IT! I can take whatever you dish out!" The one thing that got on Zim's nerves most about Ix was his cocky attitude, not that he didn't have one too but Ix would just make one want to yank out their antennae!

Zim didn't respond, knowing that it would only give him the satisfaction that he wanted. Instead he just kept his mouth shut and launched the Cruiser towards the other, blasting at the thing with some of the most powerful weapons he had. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw Ix dodge all of them, he must have gotten better over the years. After all, he _was_on the Irken Battle Team, and a pilot no less.

* * *

"Oh man! Zim's gonna get his butt fried!" Dib pressed his nose up against the glass bubble of the Star Cruiser, wide eyes with fear.

"Hey hey hey! Quit foggin' up the glass! I just had this ship cleaned!" Zink shoved at the boy, making him inch away, but he kept close enough to watch the intense battle, he only hoped that Zim was gonna be okay.

Gaz had also took to watching the little quarrel between the two, though also worried a bit for Zim's safety.

"I hope he'll be okay!" Dib said, just after he saw the Cruiser shake violently due to a blast of some sort of energy that Zim failed to dodge.

"Zim can hold his own, he'll be fine. Trust me, he isn't trying, he's just being stupid." Zink sat back and kept to following Ara to the island, she could now see it off in the distance, she could also faintly make out a small point jutting up from the middle of it, the roof of the new base no doubt.

Dib looked at her, then turned back to the battle, it was starting to really heat up now.

* * *

Ara was so tempted to veer off course and give that Jet one heck of a pounding, but the island was just ahead, it wasn't worth it. Besides, by the looks of things Zim had it pretty much under control, for now anyway.

"Dad, are they gonna be okay?" Kasandra had been wriggling in her seat ever since the first Jet made its appearance.

"I hope so." Ara said no more and refused to answer anymore questions from his persistent daughter.

Kasandra had never been to Irk before, therefore she'd never seen any Irken ever fight planes like this. She was either on her home planet, Vera, or on one of Vera's neighboring planet's moons, Xyle. And she didn't get to go anywhere else very often, her Dad being one of the seven leaders after all.

Aranarth was one of the seven leaders on Vera, there were seven lands, each had a leader and he had a huge responsibility so he didn't leave the planet too often, but every once in a while he would visit Xyle, well, he used too. It had been a while since he'd been there, the last time he was there was the last time he had seen Zephyre, but ever since then he hadn't seen nor heard from him.

Ara started to think about Xyle, for some reason when he went to retrieve Zim the memory of the moon just randomly popped up in his mind. It seemed as though Zim reminded him of his visits there, before he was a leader that is. It was almost as if he's seen Zim there one time, but he knew that was impossible, Zim had never even heard of Xyle before, so he couldn't have possibly run into him there.

Ara was jerked from his thoughts when Kasandra screamed at him to pay attention, he had alsmot passed up the island. "Huh? Oh, we're here."

"Where were you?" Kasandra folded her arms and raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "It was like you completely left for a second! Is something on your mind?"

"Uh, yeah, sorry." He pulled the ship around and waited for Zim to open up the roof to the new mansion of a base, Zim really over did it this time. The he noticed that Zim had just come up behind him, he had obviously won the little battle. "Hey, Zim? You win?"

* * *

"Heck yeah I won! What, you honestly thought I lost!?" Zim smirked and pressed one of the many buttons on the panel, sending a signal to house's computer, making the roof open up to let the ships land.

This house was more human than the last, but it was a mansion, like something that the guy that owned 'Microsoft' would live in. It was that huge. But then again, Zim had a bit more freedom in designing this one, so he got as much out of it as he could. Along with the beautiful decor and modeling it was also the most high tech house there was on Earth, no question.

"Alright guys, time to catch some 'Z's, I don't know about you but I'm tired." Zim was the first to carefully land the ship, the others quickly following. Once everyone was in the roof closed up again and the room's automatic lights came on, giving some light to the room.

"Well yeah, you were the one bustin' your rear end! Who was that guy anyways?" Zink hopped out of her Cruiser, looking questioningly at Zim.

"Ix." He was too tired to say much else, he shuffled to the lift, having the others follow without arguing to making any remarks, they were all tired and worn out.

Zink's antennae sprang up. "Ix? Wow, he got good." she left the conversation at that, lucky to get away with that remark, Zim didn't like it when people said stuff like that about his opponents, he liked to think that he was better at certain things then everybody else.

They all kept quiet as the lift descended down towards the house level, but this ride took a while, the house was so big and because Zim hadn't installed the new computer brain the house was still a bit slow. Though when they did reach the house level everyone was absolutely amazed with what they saw, it was like a millionaire's house!

The elegant design of the whole thing was just astounding, and everything looked so expensive! There were all sorts of priceless vases and paintings, there was a gigantic flat screen TV mounted on the wall, the kitchen was huge and was stocked with just about every kitchen appliance known to man, the dinning room was incredible beyond explanation, but it had a great big cabinet filled with fine China and other expensive glassware.

"Was all this really neccessary?" Aneera asked, still stunned by it all.

Zim shrugged. "No, but I figured we'd get along better if we were more comfortable, besides, it keeps the entertained and out of the way." He pointed over at Dib and Gaz.

"WOW! Zim, this is AMAZING!" Dib looked up at the ceiling, but ended up falling over, though never taking his eyes off of whatever it was that he was looking at.

"Yeah, I guess. You guys wanna see your rooms?" Zim shrugged again, he himself was pretty impressed but he decided to act as if it were no big deal.

"Sure." Gaz spoke for everyone, frankly tired of all the shouting and yelling.

Zim motioned everyone to follow and he lead them up the huge spiral staircase, at the top was a long hallway with four doors placed spaciously apart. He walked down to the one at the far left end and opened the door.

The room inside was dark and gothic, indicating that this was where Gaz was going to stay. She didn't say anything, just merely left the group and stayed inside while Zim continued down the hall to the next door.

He opened this one up and nudged Dib a bit so that he would go inside.

"Whoa, this is so cool!" His walls were painted a darker blue color and his carpet was just a tad darker than that. Everything else suggested that this room would be ideal for the Paranormal Investigator. "Thanks Zim!"

"Eh," Zim smiled. "It's alright. Just don't bother me too much okay?" He started to laugh and shut to door just as Dib was going to walk out.

"Ow!" He had slammed into it and now his entire nose was red and a bit sore. "Yeah, thanks a lot Zim." he called, not knowing if they heard or not.

Zim continued down the hall and stopped and yet another door. But he didn't open this one, he was looking behind him so Noah did if for him.

Upon going mute at the sight what must have been his room he started to feel a bit sick, there were two beds in his room, one was obviously his but the other one was covered in piggies and tacos.

"No! You are not making that stupid tin can of yours sleep in my room!" Noah glared furiously at Zim, who still wasn't paying a bit of attention to him, he was still searching the area behind him for something. "Dad!"

Zim turned around. "Where's Gir?" he asked, acting as if he didn't hear the previous sentence that had been yelled at him.

Noah sighed and just walked into his room, slamming the door closed behind him, if Gir was nowhere around then he still had a chance at a good night's sleep.

Zim and Aneera walked down to the last door in the hallway. "Where _is _Gir? And where is Zink sleeping?" Aneera hasn't notice Zink walk up the stairs with them.

"Oh, now that you mention it I think Gir and Minimoose are sleeping with Zink, she's gonna stay in her Cruiser tonight." Zim smiled then and opened the door to the master suit.

"Uhh..." Aneera peeked around the corner inside, he went _really_overboard with this room, it was fit for royalty! Which she was so it was only fitting, she could just make him sleep on the floor, that would work. "Sweet!" She leaped into the room and quickly closed the door before Zim walked in, locking him out.

"Hey!" Zim figured that she'd do something like this, luckily he had a key. He pulled said key out of his uniform pocket and slid it in the doorknob, then opened the door again. "You know, this is _my_ house, so I kind of have a key to every room in here."

Aneera was sprawled on the bed, trying to take up as much room as possible. "Sorry, I don't think there'll be enough room for both of us, I guess you'll just have to sleep on the floor."

"Oh I don't think so!" He smirked and picked her up, then tossed her off the other side. The he peered at her while she laid on the floor. "What part of _my_ house did you not understand?"

"Fine." She stood back up and shoved him over, making sure she got at least half the bed, if not more. She laid down and turned out the light sitting next to her. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

* * *

Red sat impatiently in his chair, waiting for any news on the jets he had sent down to Earth. He knew that they wouldn't actually be able to take Zim out, he was too good of a pilot, probably the best he had seen for his age. But maybe, hopefully, they got some information, anything other than nothing would make him feel better.

"Sir," Tik walked hotly into the room, he obviously had some bad news. "They got away, Sir. But we do have the coordinates of where the Jets crashed."

Red growled and slammed his fist down on the arm of his chair, so far this was not going well. "Vex! Pull up a map of Earth! I want to see those crash sites."

"Yes Sir, right away." The smallest female in the room shakily brought up a digital map of planet Earth, then awaited the coordinates from Tik.

Tik walked up to her and listed off the crash sites that were reported to him, and one by one she typed them in. As she did so little red dots would appear on the map, they all seemed to point to a specific direction.

Red squinted his eyes. "Zoom in, see where exactly those crashes happened." He pointed a finger at some other Irken that was sitting in the bridge, who nodded and did as he was told.

Slowly the area where the planes crashed was enlarged and the image onscreen was given some color. All of the planes except one had crashed in water, the rest were somewhere out int he ocean. As the Irken stopped the zoom there was an audible gasp from everyone in the room but Red.

The picture showed a small island about a hundred miles offshore, completely surrounded by water.

* * *

Aneera: Wow, long chapter.

Zim: Why?

Aneera: Why what?

Zim: Did I honestly have to have a mansion!? I mean come on! And I don't like pretty! It should have been scary!

Aneera: Well with a face like yours I'd have to say that house is pretty darn scary.

Zim: .......... I don't get it.


	23. A Mix Of Torture And Mending

"Hey! GIR! QUIT IT!" Dib was crouched under the large kitchen table, still in his pajamas. Ever since he had entered the kitchen that morning Gir had gone mad, continuously screaming at him to eat his waffles, after stupidly stating that they had soap and corn in them, making anyone in their right mind cower away from them.

Gir was sitting on top of the table, which was made of glass so he could quite clearly see Dib from where he was. He had a waffle in his hand was smashing it against the glass, hoping that, maybe this time it would just magically phase through. He did this over and over and over again, but with the same results, he had started crying about two minutes ago. "WAAAA! YOU WON'T EAT MAH WAFFLES!"

Gaz was sitting in one of the chairs, "happily" eating a bowl of cereal. The only way she had gotten out of eating one of Gir's waffles of doom was the little white lie she told him, if she ate a waffle she would explode. Thankfully Gir loved her enough to leave her alone about it, so instead he went to annoy Dib, and that's where there are now.

"But they'd make me sick if I did!" Dib had his arms over his head, and refused to look at Gir, knowing that the sad little face would surely make him give in eventually.

Gir was about to scream his sadness when two very aggravated female Irkens stepped into the room. Aneera looked really mad, her fists were clenched and she appeared as if she was about to have a nervous breakdown. Zink's antennae were all messed up and her eyes were wide open.

"You," Aneera pointed at Gir. "Down. Now!" she quietly yelled, not wanting to use up any of the small amount of energy that she had.

Gir got real scared and did as he was told, knowing full well that messing with pretty lady was not a good idea. He hopped off the table and, quivering as he did so, slowly walked out of the kitchen, then burst into a flat out run, screaming and carrying on. "Ahh! She gonna kill me!"

Zink looked back and scoffed. "And that's if you're lucky."

The two then headed out the way they had come in, leaving the others in the peace that they so longed for. It was finally quiet again, but it was unknown as to how long that was going to last.

It was a good two or three minutes before Dib felt safe enough to come out from under the table, never taking his eyes off of the living room, where the three had supposedly disappeared to. "Are they gone?" he asked quietly, not wanting to evoke the wrath that might be flung at him for absolutely no reason at all.

"Tch, you're pathetic." Gaz got out of her chair and walked over to the sink, setting her bowl and spoon inside, then walked past her brother and left the room.

Dib looked around and saw his plate on the table, he had only gotten the chance to eat half of his scrambled eggs, after that he was busy cowering under the table from Gir. So he sat back down and finished up what was left of his neglected breakfast, constantly keeping watch for the little robot, this time he'd take his plate under the table with him, should the need arise.

"Goodmorning, Dib-Stink." Zim walked in with a smile on his face.

"Ah!" Dib dove under the table and shoved his fork into his mouth, clutching his plate with all that he had, intent on having the rest of his meal.

Zim stopped and stood right where he was, looking curiously at the human, he had obviously missed something. "Um, should I ask or no?" He waited for and answer but when none came he rolled his eyes and walked over to the table, dragging Dib out from underneath it.

"If your robot can't cook edible waffles then why do you keep waffle mix in the house!?" Dib glared at the other, still holding onto his plate protectively, shoving another bite into his mouth so he wouldn't have to talk.

"I don't." was all Zim had so say.

Dib almost dropped his plate. "Then how does he make waffles?" The question came out as a slight squeak, making Dib just about choke up what was left of his bite.

"Because he's Gir, he just can." Zim stated as-a-matter-of-factly, that should've been pretty obvious.

Dib looked down at his plate, if Gir was making waffles out of stuff that shouldn't be used for waffles then... "Ew." Dib held his plate away from him and carefully guided it to the sink, where he set it down and backed away from whatever it was that he had been eating.

"Oh now don't tell me you were stupid enough to let Gir cook your breakfast for you. For all that he knew there could have been poison thrown somewhere in there." Zim started to laugh as he watched he friend gag and try to hack up what he'd eaten that morning.

"Gee, thanks Zim." he said, walking out of the room to shower, he needed one, badly.

"Wow, I guess I don't want breakfast then."

Zim turned around and smiled as Ara walked in with Kasandra trailing in behind him with Minimoose squeaking over her comments.

"You are just so cute! Yes you are! Yes you are!" she cooed, holding the little moose up her face so she could cuddle with it and tell it how adorable she thought it was. Minimoose just happily squeaked and made little happy noises as he got continuous compliments and kisses.

"Well if you want to be sure that you aren't poisoning yourself then you shouldn't touch anything that's been withing a ten foot radius of Gir." Zim explained, looking around for his defective little bot.

Ara thought about this for a minute, he knew Gir well enough to come to the conclusion that there wasn't much food that fell into that category. "So basically I'm gonna starve?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Zim was able to keep a straight face for all about two seconds before he started giggling, having Ara join in shortly after. "Nah, you'll be fine, but the safest things to eat don't have any sugar in them."

"Yeah, I'm gonna starve."

* * *

It was a good hour or so before everyone had migrated downstairs and had gotten something to eat, whether it was safe or not. There wasn't much conversation going on, mostly becasue people were either too tired or too busy worrying about when Red was gonna come and if they'd be ready in time.

Once breakfast was done and everybody was stuffed the humans and semi-humans went off to look for a bathroom that wasn't occupied so that they could freshen up. This left the four Irkens and whatever robot or android that was around to do their own thing, since there wasn't much that they could do on their own to plot, one decided to come forth with something to do.

"Hey, 'Neera? Could I possibly drag you away from that brain rotting thing for a moment?" Zim walked up behind her and leaned over the back of the couch to talk to her better.

She looked up from her little one-person tub of ice cream, it was chocolate peanut butter. "But, Idol is on! It's my favorite show! And my favorite dude is singing!" She pouted and gave Zim a fake sniffle.

"I just need you for a minute." he said, not being able to comprehend what human could possibly be more important than him!

Zink looked up and scowled. "Be quiet! Hotness is on!" she snapped coldly, eyeing Zim with frustration, either he was going to leave or stay and shut his pie hole long enough for them to watch hotness sing so they could swoon over him!

Once the next contestant came on the two girls squealed and giggled with delight. He was about twenty or so, with short and spiky brown hair. He was dressed as a punk and was singing one of those new rockish songs.

"Irk, he is gorgeous!" Zink smiled and stared at the screen in absolute content.

"He's got a nice butt." Aneera knew that Zim was standing right behind her and was capable of hearing everything she had to say, so she piled and extra big bite onto her spoon and quickly shoved it into her mouth. Hopefully that would get her out of talking and arguing with Zim that he was the complete light of her life... again.

Speaking of whom, looked down in complete disbelief that his wife, of all people, would say anything that flattering about a human while he was present. "Well excuse me! I must have forgot to make my presence known!"

Aneera finished her large mouthful of ice cream, just about giving herself a brain freeze, and looked up again to see that Zim was still looming over her. "Now hold on just a minute! You can't let me watch these kinds of shows and not expect me to make those types of statements about a few cute guys!"

Zim looked positively revolted. "And you can't expect me to just let you get away with that sort of thing!"

She sighed and looked at Zink, smiled, then looked back up. "I married you didn't I?"

"Yeah, but-"

"And need I remind you why exactly we are in trouble?" That obviously worked because Zim sank down a bit and stayed quiet. "Besides, I've caught you complimenting the head of the cheer leading team more than once."

Zim opened his mouth to say something but before he was able to say anything Aneera had tilted her head back a bit more and kissed him. But instead of pulling away after a second or two, they stayed like that until it was getting to the point where they were starting to forget where they were and who was having the unfortunate pleasure of watching.

Zink started to look a bit uncomfortable, it was expected after all, they _were_married. But when she saw the start of a french kiss she decided to draw the line there and say something. "Okay! I get it! Now will you please stop? I think I'm gonna be sick!"

"Sorry Zink. So, what did you want me for?" Aneera stood up and put the lid on her half empty tub of delicate sweets, put that in the freezer, tossed the spoon into the fridge and followed Zim down to the labs.

He didn't respond, making Aneera feel a bit wary, this could be bad, she was walking into something that he wouldn't explain, she was still a simple person and didn't understand half of the stuff he had down here so there was no telling what he had in store for her. On the other hand, it could be a surprise, but even if it was there was no telling as to what it could possibly be.

Once the lift stoped Zim stepped out and gestured to just about the only thing in the room, an operation table. "Uh, heh heh, you're joking right?" Zim only shook his head. "What? You want me to get on that thing? Have you lost your mind!? I am not-EEP!" Zim picked her up bridal style and walked over to the side of the table and set her gently on top, with her lying on her stomach.

"Now," he hoisted himself on top of the table and put two of his fingers on each hand on two different spots on her upper back. "We could do this the easy way, or we could do this the hard way."

"Hold up! I ain't doin' nothin' until you tell me what exactly you have in mind!" She had been put into a very awkward position, Zim would usually never forced her into something like this, what could he be up to?

"If I told you then you wouldn't let me do it." Zim pressed a little harder, indicating that he was joking, he'd do it. "All I want to do is help but I know that your trust for me is a tad limited."

She looked to the side to face him and scoffed. "Ha, and you wonder why! If you know that I wouldn't trust you enough to do whatever it is that you want to do if you told me then I ain't gonna let you do it!"

Zim sat up a bit straighter. "Huh? Wait... What? Never mind, just trust me, I won't hurt you, I just want to help but if I explained exactly what I had to do then you wouldn't let me do it. But believe me, you'll be glad I did."

She thought for a moment, maybe her amount of trust for him was a bit small, she did have him on a tight leash. After a second or so she reluctantly spread her wings out at her sides and hid her face under her arms, fearful for what was going to be done to her, she wasn't afraid of te pain, she was afraid of the outcome, Zim wasn't always successful with his experiments and usually they ended in disaster or somewhere in that category.

"Thank you." He slid off the table and took as much of her right wing as he could into his hands and laid it flat on the table, streatching it out as far as it would go. Then he walked over to her other side and did the same thing with her left wing, making sure it was taught and everything was placed just so.

"I do hope you know what it is that you're doing." Aneera said, her voice muffled as she refused to look up from her hiding spot. So far so good, she hadn't felt anything out of the ordinary... yet.

Zim didn't respond, if he tried to assure her that he knew exactly what he was doing then that would just make things worse. So he kept quiet while he worked, know back over at her right wing. Now he was repositioning the ripped and torn skin that had been butchered at Red's hand, he still hasn't forgave himself for not being there to help, but there really was nothing he could do.

The process of piecing together all of the shredding skin took quite some time, it was like putting together a puzzle, a very big, elaborate puzzle. It must have taken him at least an hour to put together one wing, well, to the best of his abilities anyway. Once he was done he looked over the thin membrane and continued to inspect it until he was fully satisfied.

He did the same thing to the other wing, earning only a small shift, twitch or the occasional muffled comment on something that he couldn't comprehend, either not paying attention or it was just inaudible. He worked diligently, smoothing out what he could and laying everything flat on the table to he could carefully inch it together again.

"Are you quite finished? It's been..." Aneera had looked up but her voice began to trail off when she noticed what he'd done. He'd put her wings back together, well, almost. "How did you?" She began to sit up, but he held a hand on her back and gently pushed her back down.

"Don't move." he instructed almost harshly, obviously he was under a bit of pressure and couldn't afford any more distractions. Once he had finished up with the last shredded piece of skin he stepped back and looked her over, making sure he hadn't missed anything and everything was put where it was supposed to be.

When the piecing together was finally finished he walked over to one of the counters in the room that was littered with test tubes, syringes, a few bottles of only Irk would know and other such various items.

From what Aneera could see, since Zim was almost right in front of her, he was reaching for one of the bottles of what looked like green jelly, that's when she freaked. "Now wait a minute! Potentially dangerous jelly was not part of the deal!"

Zim turned around and sighed. "I thought I told you to be still. I also told you that I wasn't going to hurt you."

"But look at that stuff! How can you be so sure that whatever that is won't hurt me!?" He hadn't mentioned anything that looked like that green goop and she certainly was _not_ letting him get anywhere near her with it.

"Because I tested it already! Trust me, you'll be fine." Okay, so maybe saying that he'd tested it wasn't such a good idea, but he was more than one hundred percent sure that it wouldn't hurt her.

Aneera rolled her eyes. "Exactly, you tested it."

Zim was starting to loose his patience a little, so as swiftly as he could he swiped one of the syringes from the counter and calmly walked over to her, really not wanting the situation to come to this. Without giving her any warning what so ever he jabbed the needle into her arm.

She looked over and saw him pulling it out and he walked over to set it back on the counter top. "Did you just?... YOU DID!" She was about to launch herself at him but before she could summon up the energy she was falling into a deep and peaceful sleep.

"Thank Irk." Sighing, he went over ot her right wing and once again went to work. This "green goop" would momentarily reopen the skin but allow it to bond with the piece that it had been cut away from. It used small nanobots to aid in the process so that it would go a lot faster and she would heal more naturally and almost seamlessly. Though scars would be present, they wouldn't be very noticeable.

For another hour he spent his time coating the cuts with the gel, making sure that every tear was completely covered and mended. It was tedious work, if even one little spot was left dry it might leave a hole and even such a small mistake could completely affect how she was able to fly. If too much wind was able to get through then she wouldn't be able to fly at all and his attempt would be all for not.

Zim shook his head, right now he couldn't afford to think such things, he needed to think of positive things, negativie's would only make him falter and that wouldn't be good.

Finally he finished, the gel had been applied to all of the necessary places and Aneera was still sound asleep, but there was absolutely no telling as to how long that was going to last. So he decided to let her sleep and he went back upstairs, maybe something interesting was happening, who knows?

* * *

"Give them back! Come on Gir! This isn't funny!" Dib was walking around the living room with his arms stretched out, feeling for anything that might give him reassurance because right now, he couldn't see.

Gir was running around him in circles with the boy's glasses in his hand, which was high in the air, flailing and waving around. "Weeee! Hehehehehe! You looks funny!" he said, still dancing circles around the poor, blind teen.

Gaz was sitting on the sofa with Zink watching a re-run of some stupid cartoon that resembled just how much society has gone down the drain and into the sewer. She didn't even know why she was watching it, she had remembered to bring that game that Zim got her for Christmas. At the thought of his name she turned around, he had been down in the labs for quite some time and so had Kasandra, there was not telling what those two could be up to.

"Seriously! Can I please have my glasses back? I can't see without them!" Dib had found a small table with a vase full of flowers to hold onto, the only problem was the vase was made of glass and because Dib was constantly fumbling for his balance and reaching out into thin air for his glasses it was only a matter of time before it got knocked over and fell on the floor. "I'm not kidding! This isn't funny anymore! You're gonna end up making me break something!"

The little robot squealed with happiness as he continued to run and scream.

"Gir!" Zim's voice was easily heard over the small android's laughing and yelling as he approached the scene. "Hand 'em over." He held out his right hand demandingly, waiting as Gir sadly placed the round rimmed glasses into his Master's hand. He then walked off with a rain cloud storming over his head, once again Zim had ended his fun.

Dib was still waving his arms stupidly around him, feeling for anything at all, when soon he felt another hand and he strained his eyes to focus but it didn't do anything but give him a headache and make him go cross-eyed. Soon someone had took a hold of both of his arms and gently placed them at his sides. Then his glasses were slid into place and rested on the bridge of his nose.

"Better?" Zim smiled weirdly at his very strange human friend.

Dib blinked a few times and smiled back. "Much better, thanks." He turned around and went off to find something better to do, a small and faint blush etching itself onto his pale cheeks, he hated to embarrassed himself like that in front of people, it made him feel like he used to when he was back in elementary school. Everyone always picked on him because he was 'crazy' and 'insane' and those little incidents made him get really flustered, it never helped his image any, not that he had much of one but what he did have he'd like to keep.

* * *

"OH MY GOODNESS! WHERE ARE YOU!?"

Kasandra was down in one of the lower levels of Zim's base and was currently talking with one her absolute best friends, who had just screamed at her from amazement.

"How come you never called me!? It's been like... TOO LONG!" The Irken on screen tried to count out the years on her fingers but ran out after she got to three.

Kasandra flinched at her friend's loudness, she had even lowered the volume of the transmission but she was just _that_loud. "Okay, Auzie, I GET IT! I missed you too! Dang... Oh, my Dad says 'hi'!"

The little Irken's eyes lightened up and she smiled. "Really!? My Dad does too! Where are you anyways?" She didn't remember Kassie taking residents in such an Irken looking place.

"We're staying at Zims' house." she replied.

Auzie stared at her in total confusion. "...Who?"

The Elf sighed, explaining Zim to someone who was completely detached from the Irken society was not easy. "He's that one guy who destroyed Operation Impending Doom I, remember?" she asked hopefully.

Auzie shook her head. "You know my Mom won't let us watch the Irken news channel, she won't tell us why but she doesn't. I always feel so left out!" She gave a fake sniffle and ran one finger down her right cheek, a human term known as 'I'm sad'.

"You are such an Earth geek!" Kasandra chuckled and smiled.

"Am not! I just really like that planet!" And thus she began to pout, folding her arms and sticking out her bottom lip, sinking a little bit in her chair, but just for show of course.

Kassie smiled a little bit of a wicked smile and put her hands on her hips. "Oh, I must have forgotten to mention, Zim lives on Earth, I do wish you could be here."

Auzie's eyes doubled in size and she screamed. "AHHH! NOO! YOU EVIL PERSON!... You will send pictures right!? Please tell me that you'll send pictures!" She had now reverted to begging, putting on the biggest and most teary puppy dog eyes that she could muster.

"Yeah, I'll try. Well I gotta go, we're preparing for war and I need to be doing something helpful... like everyone else is but whatever." Kassie sighed dropped her arms by her sides.

"Aw, well good luck not dying! Hope to see you soon!" Auzie waved and the transmission was cut.

Kasandra smiled and headed back up to the house level to share the good news with her Dad, he'll be glad to hear that their friends are still alive and well.

When the lift stopped at the desired location she saw her Dad and Zim in the kitchen talking about something most likely boring. She stepped off of the small disk of flooring and made her way to where the two were conversing and laughing, definitely something boring.

"Oh hey, where've you been?" Ara looked down at her and smiled.

She lightened up and started tob ounce on her heels. "You'll never guess who says 'hi'!"

"Who?" he asked, glancing briefly in Zim's direction.

"I'm not telling, you have to guess!" she said playfully.

"Why?" He was bad st this sort of thing, he was usually so off that it was sad.

"'Cause, you'll never guess!"

Ara sighed, it must be someone that he would never think of, someone that he hasn't talked to in a really long time. "Auzie?"

Kassie stopped bouncing and got really adgitated, why did he have to be so dang smart!? "Yeah."

"Really!? You two can still talk to each other!? How's Z?" Ara put whatever it was that he drinking down on the counter top and sat down on one of the bar stools.

"I don't know, he wasn't there and I didn't ask. I was only talking to her for about two minutes before she wished me luck with not dying and cut the transmission!" Kasandra took a deep breath and heaved a sigh.

Zim didn't hear any of this because he had moved to the other side of the room, how unfortunate.

* * *

Aneera: YAY!

Dib: Why!? You're so mean!

Author: I'm sorry, I don't mean to torture you.

Zim: YAY! The Dib-Stink got tortured!

Dib: It's not funny!

Zim: Are you kidding!? It's hilarious!

Auzie: *walks up behind Zim with the Frying Pan Of Doom and hits him on the back of the head* And so was that!

Aneera: ... Wow, I like her already!


	24. Tak Returns

Aneera woke up some time later due to a very loud banging that seemed to be coming from above her. Her eyes slowly opened and adjusted to the intense light that loomed over her. At first she had to squint but after a moment or two she could faintly make out a tall black figure and a smaller blue figure. From what she heard they were arguing about something.

"Gir! Be quiet! She's still sleeping!" The voice was familiar but she wasn't focused enough to put two and two together yet.

"I's sorry, but I is so bored!" She could tell who that was right off the bat, Gir was the only one that had a high and squeaky voice, plus his name had been mentioned by the other and there were only two in the room besides her.

She continued to listen to them bicker and quietly whisper as each other until she found the strength to move. She lifted her head and gazed around, her vision still blurry, seeing the two figures sitting next to her.

The little robot jumped up on her belly and started to rock back and forth on his feet. "Yay! Mistress it awake!" he screamed, sticking his little pink tongue out afterwards.

She saw the other one move and could make him out a little better, he was wearing mostly black so she figured that it had to be Dib. "Gir! Get off!" Dib yanked him off and set him on the floor. "How are you feeling?"

It was a minute before she was able to find her voice and speak. "Not too bad, I can't see very well and my arm hurts but I think I'm okay." She put a hand to her head and groaned. "And I have a headache." Then she started to lean slightly to her right, as if she were going to faint.

Dib rushed to catch her before she ended up falling off the table from her drowsiness. He wrapped his arms around her and desperately tried to lift her up so that he could set her down on her feet. She wasn't quite as heavy as he thought she was, this time he was actually able to pick her up and gently set her back down. He held onto her shoulders to help her regain her balance so she wouldn't fall over and hurt herself.

"Thanks." Aneera wrapped one arm around his neck and smiled at him weakly. She was able to right herself after a moment so that Dib wouldn't have to support her weight for much longer.

"Your welcome." he said, blushing ever so slightly, praying that she didn't notice. "Can you walk?"

She looked back up at him and then looked away, there was no way that she would be able to walk but Dib wouldn't be able to carry her upstairs.

"I can carry you if you need me to." Dib said sweetly, maybe he'd get lucky. Usually he felt horrible for "flirting" with his best friend's wife but he couldn't help it, nobody else would pay him any attention, especially not any girls.

"Are you sure? You don't have to if you can't." Aneera hated to be a burden and knew that it would only strain him to do such a thing, he could hurt himself. But then again, she probably wouldn't be able to walk upstairs even with his help, he just might have to.

Dib smiled and picked her up bridal style and began to walk out the door. "Of course."

"Please don't hurt yourself!" she begged, hoping that he knew what he was doing. But he could actually pick her up this time, maybe he had been doing an hour everyday on the Wii like she told him too.

"Don't worry, I won't drop you." he said with a smile. He walked down the hall towards the nearest elevator that would take him to the house floor. Once inside he did have to set her down because there wasn't enough room otherwise, but he supported most of her weight.

When the lift stopped they both stepped off and Dib walked her over to the couch so that Aneera could sit down and rest for a few more minutes. The walk over was a bit difficult because Aneera had one or two instances where her vision went blotchy and she felt as though she was going to faint, but she was just weak.

It was strange because she couldn't remember why she had been in the operation room in the first place or why she was feeling so woozy and tired. Thankfully she didn't have to worry after she was gently laid down on her back to rest.

"Are you gonna be okay?" Dib sat down on the floor next to her, resting his head on a pillow that was lying around nearby.

Aneera didn't bother to open her eyes, she just sat quietly and nodded her head, then yawned and turned over.

Dib didn't leave her side as she slept, he had been put in charge of her while Zim was away do whatever it was that he was doing at the time. Dib guessed that he had to go back to the old base and pick up a few things but he didn't really know. So he did as he was told and made sure that she was as comfortable as possible.

As he sat there and watched her he began to feel himself drift off into sleep, it wasn't long before he was snoozing quietly.

* * *

Dib was woken up by a strange felling on his head, he wasn't sure what it was but he opened his eyes, trying to focus on what was in front of him. He had to readjust his glasses, hoping that would help. Once he was able to see again Aneera came into view, but she was fully awake and seemed to be giggling about something.

It was then that he realized what the feeling on the back of his head was, she was petting him. He sunk into the pillow and hid his face from her while it turned red and got a little warmer.

"You're funny when you're asleep. Did you know that you talk in your sleep?" she asked, removing her hand when she saw that she was embarrassing him and making him a bit uncomfortable.

At that last comment he face got hotter and almost a bloody red color, now he was clutching at the pillow trying to make the sensation stop and go away.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to make fun of you... Do you know what you said?" She tried to not to laugh at him but she couldn't help but stifle a little chuckle.

Dib looked up with a horrified look on his face and shook his head slowly from side to side, murmuring, "I don't want to know." Then he hid his face in the pillow again, not daring to show himself.

She then let herself laugh a little bit, slipping her arms around him to give him a hug, but trying not to make him too uncomfortable at the same time. Though she was still able to feel him squirm and try to get away. "What is with you? You get embarrassed way too easily, we'll have to work on that."

Dib still refused to show his face but he was attempting to get her off before he got himself in trouble with his best friend. For some reason he had this feeling that even though Zim was away he could still tell what everyone was doing.

Aneera finally let go and just went back to petting him, she liked to play with his hair because it was so funny. She'd never seen anything like it before, at first she thought it was lots and lost of hair gel, but apparently it was just like that and boy was it fun to play with! "Was your hair always like this?" she asked, pulling a little at the scythe on the top of his head.

"Yeah." The answer was muffled because he still wouldn't lift up his head.

"Why are you so... sensitive?" She couldn't understand why, Dib just never did well around girls, maybe he was just one of those guys.

He summonded up the best relaxed face he could and looked up. "What do you mean?" He knew very well what she meant but as long as he didn't have to say anything he would be better off.

Aneera rolled her eyes and fell back on the couch, trying to word this so it came out right, it was a strange question and she didn't want it to sound weird. "Well, you don't exactly... do well around girls." She looked over at him to see if he understood a bit better.

He gave her a fake confused look. He knew what she was asking, why was he still so alone? He'd never really thought about it to be honest, he always thought that he didn't care much for girls but couldn't tell himself that now because obviously he felt something for her.

She heaved an annoyed sigh and looked at him before practically shouting, "Why are you still single!? I mean come on! You don't have much of a family, your Dad thought you you were insane, your sister hates you almost, I mean, don't you get lonely sometimes?"

Dib's face flushed again but looked away this time, thinking about what she had said. "Well yeah, but I guess I don't notice anymore, it's been this way ever since Mom died, I've just been ignored."

"That's what I was afraid of. You seriously need a social life." She would have said more but the door could be heard opening and then closing again, the there was a loud yell.

"I'm home!" Zim called, still unseen.

Dib looked behind him and watched as Zim came from around the corner, entering the room. "Took you long enough, what were you doing?" Dib asked curiously as he had not been told.

Zim looked sort of behind him and to the side, towards where he had entered and held up a hand, an indication for whoever must have been there to stop. Then he looked back to the two, but more at Aneera than Dib. "Will you promise not to yell at me. I had to bring someone along to help but it was honestly a last resort. Please don't be mad at me."

"Who is it?" she asked, trying to look behind him.

"You have to promise not to be mad before I'll show you." he replied, looking worriedly at the other who still couldn't be seen.

Aneera pondered the request for a moment, it could be a number of people, but most likely someone that she doesn't like by the way he had asked. Finally she decided that whoever it was would be tolerable. "Fine, promise."

Zim sighed, knowing that the one person that he brought hadn't been considered but it was too late now. He stepped aside and the other enter the room, causing Aneera to scream in disbelief.

"NO!" Aneera stood up and glared hatefully at the female in front of her, who just _had_to be Tak.

Zim saw the oncoming conflict and darted between the two, getting ready to stop whatever punch or kick that was flung at the other. "I told you, she was a last resort, I didn't want to but I had too."

"I REFUSE TO PUT UP WITH HER!" Aneera screeched, snapping dangerously at the other, who only smirked.

"Oh come on, surely I can be forgiven can't I?" Tak displayed her most "sincere" face and smiled, which only made things worse.

Aneera launched herself at the other, growling and bearing her fangs in anger. Unfortunately her attack was intercepted by Zim, but she still continued to glare hatefully and growl.

Zim struggled to keep Aneera at bay while he talked, looking over his shoulder at Tak. "Hey Tak, maybe you should go somewhere else for a minute while I talk to her, okay?"

Tak rolled her eyes and walked out of the room, leaving the two to be alone.

Aneera relaxed a tiny bit after she couldn't see the other but ws still fighting mad. Though after a minute and a few soothing words on Zim's part she was able to stand still without fidgeting too much.

Zim put both hands on her shoulders and forced her to look at him. "Now listen, I know you two hate each other, personally I don't like her either, but we need her help."

"Pfft, _her_help? What could she possibly do for us!? Other than mess everything up? I'm telling you, we can't trust her! No matter how "valuable" she might seem to be!" Aneera stepped back a little and looked at Zim, waiting for his reaction.

Zim sighed and dropped his hands, knowing that what he was about to say may not help the situation at all, but he might as well try. "The reason I asked her to stay with us is because she's worked on the Massive longer than anybody else I know and she's trusted there, meaning that she has access to more things than we do. If I'm right-" He stopped for a moment, noting at how Aneera squinted her eyes. "I'm positive that she has access to important documents." Zim decided to let that much sink in before he went any further. She didn't move so he just continued. "Because she has access to such documents she would be able to easily get us a detailed blueprint of the Massive, giving us a huge advantage." This time she did react.

Switching her weight to her other foot Aneera pondered his explanation, she had to admit that she did like the idea of having an aly that was able to get their hands on important papers, but it was _Tak_. After another moment's consideration she sighed and looked away in submission. "Alright, but I hope you know what you're doing."

With a bright smile Zim wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug. "I'll make sure that she's well behaved." Zim was content with just standing there and cuddling her, but he decided to quit when he realized that people were watching... well, staring.

Dib smiled happily from across the room. "I was wondering when you would notice!" If there was one thing that entertained Dib more anything it was seeing the expression on Zim's face whenever he mocked him about his "love life", but hey, at least he had one.

Zim looked over Aneera's shoulder and scrunched up his face. "You're just jaelous!" he retorted, making Dib's fun come to an end.

It was true, Dib was completely jealous. For one thing, Zim actually did have a family and someone who loved him very much. He also had a loving child that would be seen in a human's eye as 'perfect', behavior wise at least. But Dib decided to not have a break down in front of the two, instead he waved off the want of huddling in a corner to cry his eyes out and put on a smile, however hard it may have been, shrugging at the comment.

"Yeah, I am." Though Dib's reaction to the little "insult" was quite unexpected they both decided that it was just his personality and went right along with it.

Zim could practically smell the depression that was radiating off of the human, which was constant, but now it was a bit more noticeable. "But we kinda sorta love you anyways!" He smiled and held out an arm for the boy, hoping that he didn't upset him too much.

Dib looked at him and smiled back, walking forward to joint in the hug. The peacefulness didn't last very long, as soon as Gir saw he screamed "GROUP HUG!" and jumped on them all. But after a minute he mumbled something about a pig and went back upstairs.

Tak, who had been in the room next door had walked in when she heard the noise, curious as to what was going on she stepped back in to have a look. She couldn't have been in the room for more than five seconds before a yelp was heard from the second floor up.

Gir ran back down the staircase screaming something stupid about only he knew what. "He's gonna die! HE'S GONNA DIE! SOMEBODY HELP!" Once he was on the ground floor he ran up to Zim, arms flailing and eyes wide open. "You gotsta come quick! Master Noah is acting all WEIRD!"

Well there were two things that said Gir was just having an episode again. One, he was screaming about someone dying, which he'd done countless times before. Second, everybody acted weird! He could be saying that and there could be absolutely nothing wrong because to Gir, if it's normal than there's something wrong with it. So the fact that he was saying that Noah was acting "weird" and was "dying" practically meant "he's alive and normal!" Basically, nothing to worry about.

So nobody said anything, usually when they did he'd just interrupt them again, and so, Gir continued. "I'mma telling you guys! He's talking!" Well there you go, something else to not worry about.

"Um, Gir, I do believe that he's supposed to talk." Zim, no stranger to these strange little outbursts of stupidity, had already come to the conclusion that A: he was seeing things... again, B: he had way too much sugar for today (interrogate Dib about what he'd been letting the hunk of metal eat) or C: this was just all part of some weird something or other that he wanted to have absolutely nothing to do with. He was favoring B because he loved to interrogate people.

"No! You don'ts understands! He's asleep! BUT HE'S WALKING TOO! IT'S CREEPY! He's like, dat weird alien Zombie that was in dat one movie about peanuts and unicorns! DON'T YOU REMEMBER!?" Gir had now started to mesh his words together he was so out of sorts. He arms continued to flail about but now he was jumping around in little circles.

Dib was about to pipe up and say something somewhat intelligent but there was a moan that came from upstairs, belonging to none other than Noah himself.

"ZOMBIE!" Gir screamed and ran away to leap behind the sofa, taking cover before the unconscious boy evoked his sleepy wrath upon him. He peeked from over the top of the couch and yelled at the others. "HIDE! Or he'll steal all of you's BRAINS!"

"Tch, no more scary movies for you." Aneera looked behind her and rolled her eyes, usually he wasn't this freaked out after a horror movie but maybe it was one of those super, extra scary, freaky-deaky midnight flicks.

Tak didn't bother to look, it would only aggravate her more and the last thing she wanted was to get on somebody else's nerves and start a pointless argument. So she kept her eyes on Noah, who was slowly walking down the stairs, eyes closed and body swaying from side to side with every step. "He's a sleepwalker."

"No he ain't!" Aneera turned her head and snapped at the other, even if she was right Tak was not aloud to make comments on Noah, ever, or she shall perish.

Noah finally reached the bottom of the stairs and began to walk towards the couch, eyes still unopened. As he grew closer to the cluster of people they inched out of his way, eager to see what he would do since he wasn't fully aware of the situation himself.

"Ahhh!" Gir leapt from behind the couch and ran towards Ara, who just seemed to magically appear. Quite frakly he did that a lot, usually freaking people out and having them scream things like 'Where'd you come from!?'. But this time, no one seemed to notice.

Ara looked down at the little robot, tilting his head to one side as though trying to get a better look at him. "What's going on?"

But before he was granted an explanation Noah walked up to him and snatched Gir up off the floor. Then, tucking the robot under one arm he turned his head up to sort of 'glare' at Ara. "Don't touch Mr. Fuzzles!" Then he turned around and went back upstairs, groggily walking as he did before and muttering strange things to himself.

For a minute nobody said anything, the whole predicament was just a tad bit weirder than the average moment. Ara was staring at where Noah's face had been, completely missing the fact as to why that just happened.

"Uhm, okay. Who exactly is Mr. Fuzzles?" Dib looked up from the floor that he was sitting on and peered at Zim.

Said alien just shrugged his shoulders and murmured, "Don't know and _reeeeaaaaally _don't want to." With that said he walked out of the room and went upstairs to his own room, leaving the others in total confusion.

* * *

Aneera: Crappy ending, I know!

Zim: o.0 What in the world?

Noah: Who is Mr. Fuzzles!? And why am I associated with it!?

Aneera: Dunno, you're imaginary bed time friend!

Noah: O.o What the crap!? I... Never mind.

Aneera: So next chapter... something AMAZING will happen! But I won't tell you, you'll just have to read.

Zim: TELL ZIM! I COMMAND YOU!

Aneera: No.

Zim: Drats!


	25. Short People

After Noah's little episode everyone had decided to migrate to the living room and watch TV, which was currently showing some crack head comedian that was talking smack about short people. Of course the Irkens in the room found this somewhat offensive but it was just some guy making a living.

"I don't understand, what's so wrong about short people!?" Zink hollered, crossing her arms and thinking horrible thoughts towards the idiot on TV.

The rest just snickered, finding her annoyance quite amusing. But some understood how she felt and gave her a small pat on the back, Aneera had to give her a hug because she felt especially bad, while she had a growth spurt Zink stayed right where she was.

Zim had gotten bored with watching all of this "hilarious" crap that he completely didn't understand, just because he hadn't lived on this planet for but three and a half years. He never really was one for comedians so he mostly just tuned him out, his jokes were crappy anyways and Zim couldn't understand why people would actually _want_ to sit around and watch this _garbage_. So he left after about an hour and headed upstairs to his room where he fished through his closet for anything that could keep his interest for more than ten minutes.

"Huh, I almost forgot about this." he said, pulling out a box of stuff that had been once called "junk" but was actually a collection that Zim had built up from the years. He set it in the middle of his floor and opened it up, smiling to himself at all of the strange memories that were inside.

One of the things that he had kept was his original Invader uniform, boots, gloves, the whole thing. He had worn it for so many years that he just couldn't bring himself to part with it. Once that was set gently on the floor he then took out a small green belt with Christmas bells on it, Minimoose wore it when Zim tried to take over the Christmas holiday.

As he set that down too the door opened and Aneera stepped in, curious as to what he could possibly be doing. "Hey, what's all this?" she asked, gesturing towards the box when she sat down next to him.

"Just a box of stuff I've acquired over the years." Zim then handed her a book without bothering to look at what it was, continuing to fish around in the box.

Aneera looked down at the book, it was Zim's yearbook from ninth grade, that should be interesting. She opened up the front cover and began to flip through the pages, quietly giggling at the stupidity of the students. As she got to the listing of all the students in the school grouped by homeroom teacher her eyes fell on Ms. Bitters. and her horrible class of doom.

She saw a lot of people that she recognized, Zita, Torque, she even saw Dib in there. But at the very bottom, the last students was Zim. "Aww! You were so cute in ninth grade!"

Zim looked up from what he was looking at and peered over her shoulder. "Oh yeah, I was wasn't I? You should've seen the mob of girls that would wait at the front doors of the school every morning just to say 'hi' to me."

Aneera tilted her head. "Really? Mobs?"

"Hoards of 'em! And they smiled really creepy-like when I walked bye, all saying 'Good morning, Zim!" at the same time! It was scary! And the giggling! They never stopped giggling!" Zim suddenly got this disgusted look on his face. "So. Much. Giggling. And the notes! The horrible love letters they passed to me! And every time I opened my locker a mountain of paper fell on me!"

"Paper?" aneera gave him a quizzical look.

"Yes! With their phone numbers! BLECH! They all disgusted me! I wanted to PUKE! But I didn't, I just acted like a goody goody little teacher's pet! But that wasn't the worst part!" Zim started to shout and flail his arms.

Aneera flipped through the book some more while he talked. "There's more?"

"Some of them were guys!"

"... I didn't need to know that." Aneera tossed the book at him and scooted about three or four inches away from him. She then reached into the box and pulled out another book, his senior yearbook. "Oh yay."

Zim saw what she had in her hands and tried to push away the horrible thoughts of his senior year, it made him sick. Instead he pulled out a small purple suit that was once used to hide his horrible blemish that turned out to hypnotizing, but that thought made him sick too so he tossed it aside and continued to dig through the box.

"Hey," Aneera pulled at Zim's arm. "Isn't this Mr. Dwicky?"

He looked over and gagged. "Yep."

"What's so bad about him?" Aneera didn't remember him much.

Zim slowly turned to look at her "He was a fruit loop! I mean that guy had some serious issues! He needed help! BADLY!" Zim could clearly recall the day that everyone found out about Mr. Dwicky being gay, which was something none of them really needed to see. "Blech." Zim coughed to himself and fished out a small box and went through it's contents.

"Oh my goodness, what is this!?" Aneera held the book away from her and stared at the picture on the page.

Zim looked at the book at started to laugh. "I remember that! Dib really got on my nerves that day so I tried to give him a reason to go to the nurse's office."

On the picture Zim was on his knes, leaning over his seat towards Dib and grabbing for his nose, while also trying to shove a pencil up into said body part with his other hand. He also had this extremely determined look on his face and was almost falling out of his chair trying to reach the boy next to him.

"So you were trying to shove a pencil up his nose?" She cocked a non existent eyebrow, closed the book and tossed it to the side with no further comment on the matter.

"Yeah well, it worked before." Zim remembered that one time he got "head pigeons" and Dib shoved half a pencil "into his brain" just to get to nurse's office to spy on him.

The two were quiet for a while, picking through the box of useless things and either laughing or gagging at whatever they saw. Soon the whole box was empty an everything had been gone through, inspected, looked at and examined quite thoroughly. Afterwards Zim packed up the box again and put it in his closet so the two could head back downstairs.

As the two entered the living room they could see that Noah had woken from his nap and was currently being told about what had happened wasn't enjoying any of what he was hearing, he was embarasses about that whole 'Mr. Fuzzles' thing, he didn't even know who that was.

"And then you stormed back upstairs." Ara concluded.

Noah looked up at him, his face a mix of bright red and his natural green skin tone, making him look almost sick. Then he turned to everyone else that was in the room. "Um, can we just forget that that ever happened?"

They all exchanged glances and murmured 'Yeah's and 'Sure's, it's not like they could use any of what happened to blackmail him or anything... well, they could, but they wouldn't.

"Thanks guys." Noah smiled and turned around, just in time to bump into his parents. "Uhh..."

"Have a good nap?" Zim asked, trying not to contort his face into one of amusement but failing miserably.

Noah just scowled and walked away, not wanting to get into the conversation that he saw coming, so to avoid further humiliation he just walked away from it.

Zim only nodded to himself and looked over at Ara, a question popping into his head. "Hey, Ara, didn't you say that your fleet was already here?"

Ara looked over at him. "Yeah, why?"

Zim shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, I just didn't see them when we came in the other day." He then moved over to the nearest window and looked outside, not seeing anything but dense foliage and trees.

"Haha, how could anybody see anything out there? We're Elfidians Zim, or as I like to say, 'Elf Ninjas'. We blend in like Foixs, you'll never know it's there until it's too late!" Ara gave a laugh of pride and put his fists on his hips.

Zim just looked him up and down before closing his eyes and shaking his head. "Oh! That reminds me!" He turned to Aneera and grabbed her by the arm, leading her to the front door. "We won't have much time for you to practice so we better get started." They exited the house and Zim started to go towards the woods.

"Zim, where are we going!?" Aneera was about to yank her arm away but decided not to, something insude that if she did Zim would trip and fall face first into the tree off to their left. And as much as she would have almost loved to see that happen and laugh until her eyeballs popped out there was also the thought of how karma always seemed to find it's way to her no matter what.

"You'll see!" he yelled, the wind had started to pick up a little as they entered a clearing in the trees. He stopped in the middle and looked around, making sure that the area would be large enough for what he wanted her to do. Once he was satisfied with the area he turned to look at her.

She only stared back. "Um, what exactly are we doing here?" She had looked around a bit herself and found absolutely nothing that was worth looking at.

"You are going to fly." Zim smiled and crossed his arms.

Aneera tilted her head to one side, then looked behind her, saw nothing and peered behind Zim until she finally gave up. "Hehe, you're joking!... You are joking, right?"

Zim only shook his head and continued to smile. "Of course I didn't expect you to remember the surgery," he quoted 'surgery' with his fingers. "So for right now just take my word for it, okay?"

"... Excuse me? Did you just say surgery?" Aneera took a small step back and scowled at him.

Rolling his eyes and sighing Zim dropped his arms and repeated himself. "Did you not hear what I just said? You. Are. Going. To. FLY! So stop asking questions! Just do!"

Aneera decided that he was being too stubborn for her to change his mind and argue so, with a huff, she did as he asked. She spread her wings and curled her tail behind her, holding her head high and sat down so that she was at eye level with Zim.

"Well?" he asked, pointing at her wings.

She tiled her head to see them and nearly squealed with joy. "AH! Ha ha!" She turned in a circle, holding them up to the sunlight just make sure that what she was seeing was real.

Zim leaned over. "You're welcome." he said.

She looked up at him and smiled, then licked the side of his face to show her gratitude. "Thank you!" she said happily. Then she remembered the reason that they were out there in the first place, so she stood up and grabbed the front of Zim's shirt between her jaws, throwing him onto her back.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" He started, but it was too late, she was already running to the edge to trees. Once there she launched herself towards the nearest tree, grabbing one branch with her front paws and pushing off the trunk with her back paws, catapulting herself into the air.

If Zim had his hands free he would have covered his eyes, but unfortunately they had other things to do, like holding on so he wouldn't fall and plummet towards the ground. So instead he shut them as tight as he could, hoping that she could remember how to actually stay in the air.

* * *

Zink looked away from the TV, she couldn't stand this 'Larry' anymore! Even after an hour and a half he still had things to say about short people! It was just evil! So she looked out the window, just in time to see a small black figure burst out from the tops of the trees, leaving a trail of leaves behind it.

"Well I'll be, that crazy little scheme of his did work."

Kassandra walked up behind Zink and looked out the window. "What worked?" she asked, being just a few seconds late to see what Zink was smiling about.

Zink turned around and was about to answer her when suddenly the houses electricity completely shut off.

* * *

Aneera: Sigh, it feels good to be able to fly again!

Zim: Yeah, and it's all thanks to me!

Aneera: I know. Anyways, sorry this didn't get to you guys sooner, I'm up here in KY visiting people and I no longer have a working laptop so I didn't get to a computer very much.

Zim: KY? Is that some sort of virus?

Aneera: That's Kentucky you idiot. It's a state.

Zim: Oh… Is that a virus?

Aneera: How did you even get here!?

Zim: I hid in your luggage.

Aneera: *cry*


	26. Plug!

Zim had absolutely nothing to hold onto but Aneera's shoulders, which were so narrow due to her extremely lithe body that a few time his hands almost slipped. But he was enjoying himself, he could trust her enough to know that if he were to fall she would surely catch him. Though, riding bare back probably wasn't the smartest idea, the scales on her back were so rough that by the time they went back to the house his skin would be raw.

But they were having too much fun to care, the last time they got to do this was when they went to Irk for their honeymoon. After that they'd been so busy it was hard to find enough time to just enjoy each others company.

Not that they weren't working now but the base's computer hadn't been fully installed yet so there wasn't anything any of them could do, even communication was difficult.

Aneera tipped her left wing down and banked off towards the house, noticing something strange, it seemed to be dark. When she got closer she stopped and hovered, twisting herself around to look at where the sun was. It was dusk, the house's lights should be on. "Hey, Zim? Look over at the house. The lights aren't on, does that seem a little strange or is it just me?"

Zim gripped her shoulders and pushed himself up to see around her, and indeed the house was dark, how odd. "I wonder what's wrong. We should head back and make sure everything is okay."

Aneera wasted no time in picking up speed and using the late afternoon breeze to carry her down towards the house. She came to the little clearing they were at a little while ago since that was the only place around where she had enough room to land. As she descended she lowered her tail and feet, raising her wings above her head to gently ease them to the ground. The thin membrane between her bones caught the air and made them look like boat sails.

When she touched down on the soft grass Zim hopped off, got his balance and awkwardly began to run back to the house. His skin had nearly been rubbed off and it hurt him to move at all but when he saw the house he knew something was wrong. After a moment he had to stop and wait for Aneera to catch up since he'd run off without her. He winced and started jogging again as she came through the thick bushes.

"Are you okay?" she asked, looking him up and down.

He could only nod his head and concentrate on getting back to the house, it would have been one thing if the lights in the house were manually operated but because they would normally come on automatically at a certain hour it worried him. So when he reached the front door the first thing that he heard was 'Zim! The lights went out!'

Tak ran up to him and started to ramble on how she had been working on some important experiment and then the electricity had shut off. Then Gaz came in and started yelling about how her video game had been interrupted because of the power outage. After she had finished complaining Zink scampered into the room and ran face first into him.

"Zim!" she hollered. "The electricity! It's gone! THIS IS BAD!" Her arms were flailing and her eyes were as big as the dinner plates sitting in the fine china cabinet down the hall.

"Zink, calm down!" Zim knelt down and grabbed her shoulders, trying to stable her. "What happened?"

Zink scowled at him. "The power is gone!" she screamed, balling her hands into fists.

Zim sighed and rubbed the side of his head, closing his eyes to collect himself. "I know that the power went out, Zink. But tell me exactly what happened."

This just infurriated her even more. "THE POWER WENT OUT! What else is there to tell!? Now what I want to know is WHY!?" She looked at him and glared, her antennae twitching madly in frustration.

"I don't know wh-!... Oh no." Zim's face turned pale and he quickly stood up and dashed into the upstairs control room.

Dib then walked in and looked around. "Where'd he go?" Before he got his answer everybody rushed past him and into the room Zim had disappeared into with himself closely following.

"Zim?" Ara came up next to him and looked down at the screen that Zim was hunched over. "Can this be fixed? Can we get the power running again?"

Zim didn't say anything, he was too busy checking the computer's download status, it was at 87% before the house had shut down from who knows what. Once he confirmed that the computer itself hadn't been damaged he went into the auxiliary power's generator file he looked to see how much of that was left.

"Dad?" Noah came up next to him and lightly pulled on Zim's uniform sleeve. When he finally looked down and aknowledged Noah's presence he asked, "Are we gonna be okay?"

Zim opened his mouth to answer but he wasn't sure what to say, honestly there was no telling if they really were going to be alright or not. So he sighed again and turned back to the screen, hoping that this wasn't the start of what was sure to be a very horrifying end.

Noah stepped backwards, gazing up at the light that was casting eerie shadows on his father's silent face. He would have probably been less frightened if he got 'no' for an answer than nothing at all. He never looked away as Aneera came up behind him and put her hands on his shoulders, then guided him away.

The room and the people in it seemed as if they were all moving in slow motion, but at the same time it seemed as things were moving entirely too fast for any of this to actually be happening.

Zim slowly backed away from whatever it was he had been looking at and his hands began to shake violently, then, without another word, he ran out the door screaming, "NO!"

That was the only sound that could be heard and it continuously bounced off the walls, repeating itself over and over again until it finally slipped into the unconscious depths of time. Nothing made sense anymore as realization grabbed hold of whoever was in the room, jerking them into a strange awareness.

Dib was the first to turn his head and run out after Zim, but was already too late, he was gone. If he didn't know better there was no way that Dib would know where to look for him, but he knew Zim better than most people and took off running down the hall, calling after him.

* * *

Zim had to use the emergency lift to get down to the lower levels of the base, seeing as the others wouldn't work again until he got the power back on, _if_ he got the power back on.

Panic wasn't exactly what he was feeling but he was a little scared, this had happened so suddenly and they had had absolutely no time to prepare for it at all. The main power core had been destroyed when the electricity cut off so they would have to run strictly on auxiliary power until the core could be replaced.

But that was only if he could manually finish downloading the computer into the base, without it all comands were useless and most of the base woud not respond. He was hoping that it could be done or they'd be completely helpless and Red would finally get what he wanted.

Zim shook his head and tried to control himself, if he were to have a breakdown now it would be his fault should the Earth get destroyed because they couldn't do anything about it.

The lift stopped and Zim sprinted over to the computer, who's screen was showing the Irken insignia, at least it was still working. Zim pulled it out of standby and began to type in manual commands as best he could, his hands were shaking so bad he was having trouble. But eventually he was able to pull up the download screen and restart downloading the computer's information into the base.

Dib soon walked in and stood next to Zim, who was now leaning over the keyboard and looked as though he was in pain. Dib put his hand on Zim's shoulder and he slowly stopped shaking. "Are you okay?"

Zim only shook his head and grimaced, keeping his muscles strained just to give his mind something to focus on so he didn't have a nervous breakdown. He'd never been shoved into this sort of situation so abruptly, where he had multiple lives on the line and in his hands, it was too much for him to bear.

When he thought he could move properly again Zim slid down and sat on the floor, holding his head in his hands. His hands had started to shake again, his antennae were almost vibrating and he had to squeeze his eyes shut just to keep his sanity and stop all of the bad thoughts and nightmares from entering his mind. He was truly afraid for once, he'd never felt so alone.

Dib slowly sat down next to him, looking intently at Zim with concern. He'd known Zim for a long time and never had he ever been so upset. "Why are you so undone?"

Zim held his breath and let it out as calmly as he could, then he would allow himself to open his eyes. He gazed at Dib for what seemed like eras to him before quietly saying, "You could never understand." Then he looked at the ground off to his right.

Dib didn't expect an answer much different than what he got to be honest. "Why?" What he got next was something he didn't expect at all.

"Because nobody ever has!" Zim had screamed at Dib many times, but he'd never been shrieked at before. "Nobody but me knows what feels like to be truly hated!" He paused for a minute, for so long he'd wanted nothing more than to scream at the world what he was feeling, and now was his chance. "Nobody could possibly know what it feels like to be completely unwanted and hated by your own people! Nobody but ME!"

Dib was taken aback by Zim's sudden emotional rant that he had to cover his ears and squint his eyes.

"I was the only one to be hated and ridiculed and laughed at and brutally beaten as much as I have! I've lost so much! Just because I wasn't good enough! I should already be dead! But they had to keep me alive just to torture me!" Zim stopped to breathe for a moment. "They never wanted me! After EVERYTHING I've done for them! They still take from me and hurt me! I CAN'T EVEN GO HOME!"

As he was listening to all this Dib was so close to tears that he was rubbing his eyes just to make sure they stayed dry.

Zim was shaking so violently now that it hurt, but he still wasn't finished. "Ever since I was born I've been living in a lie! I don't even know who I am anymore! And it's all because of THEM! I used to have to watch myself bleed just make sure I was still alive! I am, in every essence of the word, BROKEN!" After that Zim shut his eyes and buried his face in his arms, sobbing.

Dib had been reduced to tears after hearing that last little bit. _What must it feel like to be him?_Dib looked away and removed his glasses, wiping his eyes free of anymore tears that threatened to fall. He remembered hearing bits and pieces of Zim's past and it wasn't like it was his fault anyway, he couldn't help that he was defective. He couldn't help that he was different and normal things for an Irken were hard for him to do or obey.

Dib had done things wrong before but all he got was talk to or a slap on the wrist, it wasn't like he was banished and couldn't go home anymore.

Zim stayed with his face hidden for a long while, whether it was out of shame or anger he wasn't sure, but now his head hurt and all he wanted was quiet. Though it didn't take long for a few of the others to find him and his peace had been invaded.

The first that came into the room was Ara, who was followed by Zink. But as soon as they saw Zim they started to ask questions, which made his head hurt even worse and he threw them an involuntary hiss, telling them to stay away. But of course they paid no attention to it and continued to advance in on his privacy.

When they got a little too close Zim flattened his antennae and tried to move away. When that didn't work and they continued to ask questions he rose his head and shot them a hateful glare, growling and leaning away.

Zink instantly turned around and made for the exit, knowing the kind of damage Zim could do when he was angry enough. Unfortunately she didn't care enough to drag the taller being with her so Ara was left unaware of what would happen should he get much closer.

After hearing that little display from Zim, Dib stood up and closed the space between Ara and the unstable Irken. "He's not feeling well." Dib said quietly, not wanting to put his friend in any more pain than he already was.

Ara sighed and peered around Dib, then nodded to himself as he too turned to leave. Before he reached the lift he turned back towards Zim and silently prayed that he'd be alright. When he was finished he stepped into the lift and rode up to the ground floor to talk with the others.

Once he was gone Dib turned back towards Zim and knelt down in front of him, taking his hands in his own. Zim looked up with bittersweet anger, his emotions were so mixed up he could say he almost felt happy at the moment. Zim didn't have much time to say anything until Dib let go of the Irken's claws and wrapped his arms around his neck.

Zim sat on the floor in confusion, why was the human hugging him? Had he upset him? Zim sure hoped not, there was far too much for them to worry about for both of them to be an emotional wreck! "Dib!?" Zim smiled and, sniffling as he did so, unhooked Dib's arms and held his shoulders. "We have things to do." he whispered, talking was still a chore for him.

Dib nodded and smiled a little, then stood up and brought Zim along with him. He felt better now that Zim wasn't screaming and crying anymore, but as childish as it seemed he could understand why one would need to do it , Zim was stressed and he'd been holding it back for a long time. But now he felt better and that's all that mattered.

**"DOWNLOAD COMPLETE"**

Zim looked up and sighed in relief, now he'd have to get to the generators and just turn them on. He took Dib by the arm and led him to the lift, it was a tight fit but neither of them cared enough to do anything about it. It took a few minutes before it stopped in the lower levels seeing as it went so slow due to lack of power.

"This will work right?" Dib glanced at Zim, them looked out at the rooms that slid past them as they descended.

Zim thought for a moment, there was always that possibility that it wouldn't work and they'd have to risk everything to go back to the base, but Zim didn't tell Dib that. "Yeah."

When the two got off Zim left Dib's side and made his way past all of the large towers of generators, through the maze of computers and over to the auxilary power tanks.

The tanks were two great big cylinders that had to have been at least twenty feet tall. They had big tubes that ran into the floor, little wires that ran to a computer and one giant pipe that connected the two.

"They're yellow." Dib pointed out, he was actually expecting something black or pink, green even. But not yellow. "Why?" he asked, still looking up and the ginormous containers.

"Because!" Zim shouted, fiddling with the main computer.

Dib looked over at Zim and realized something. "Hey, if there is no power how can you get that thing to turn on?" Dib wasn't usually one to question Irken technology but he was curious.

"It doesn't use power from the main frame." Zim explained while opening up the back panel of the computer and sticking his head inside. "It has a battery that charges so that we can still use it when we need it, like now." He messed around with a few wires and plugs until the thing finally turned on, then he came back out.

Dib thought about that, it made perfect sense. "So is that how the emergency lift works?"

Zim looked up and nodded. Then he went to the front of the computer and began to type in commands, occasionally having to start over because of the crappy connection he had. When he had finally finished a screen with a happy face came up and stuck its tongue out.

**"Base. Power Status: Auxiliary Tanks."**

The two boys sighed in relief and headed back upstairs to see what the others were up to.

* * *

"I don't care! DON'T ANSWER IT!" Zink was standing on the couch to be more level with Aneera as she grabbed the front of her shirt and continued to yell in her face.

Aneera was truly bored with the situation as it so appeared on her face. "It might be help, who knows. So, STOP YELLING AT ME!"

"What's help?" Zim stepped in between the two and pulled Zink off the couch, setting her gently on the floor. "What's going on?"

Ara turned towards Zim and nodded his head to the TV. "We got a transmission but Zink doesn't want to answer it, she says it could be trouble." He then turned back around and ignored them, muttering about how controlling and stupid Irkens were.

Though it seemed Zim wasn't worried, in fact if one was paying enough attention they would have caught the smirk on his face as he made his way towards the TV. "Answer Transmission."

It was a few seconds before anyone showed up, in which all eyes were on Zim. In about a minute or so the screen lit up and the sight left most gaping.

"Hello, Tiz." Zim greeted, glancing at the massive hoard of soldiers behind him.

"The fleet is ready, Sir." Tiz said with a smile.

* * *

Aneera: I hope it doesn't end up short, but oh well.

Zim: Did I just get called... Sir?

Aneera: Yeah.

Zim: .... I feel... kinda sorta almost a little happy!

Aneera: Good for you, I don't care. ENJOY YOUR HAPPINESS WHILE YOU STILL CAN! WUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

Zim: Why?

Aneera: You'll see. It's why this story falls into the category of 'Tragedy' Hahahaha!!

Zim: .... Is that a bad thing?

Aneera: Can't you go be retarded somewhere else!?


	27. Complications

All eyes in the room were fixed on Zim as he conversed with Tiz, none of them had been informed of this... this army behind Tiz's command! Though nobody decided to comment on the matter until the two were finished talking, it looked as though the fleet was in their favor and was as ready as anybody else was.

"How many have you recruited?" Zim cast his gaze beyond his friend and upon the vast range of soldiers of so many different races. He hadn't mentioned his idea to Tiz that long ago.

Tiz had to ponder for a moment, he hadn't exactly counted the refuges that he gathered. "I'd have to say at least a few thousand, give or take a hundred."

Zim smiled to himself. "Impressive, how did you manage such a feat in only a short time?"

"I told you, I know people, I have connections." He laughed a little, then his face got serious. "So what of the Humans? You know that planet cannot defend itself should Red send even a small fleet to the surface."

"I know, I'm still trying to come up with some way to keep him off the planet but so far I haven't been able to come up with anything." Zim looked off to the side for a moment before he looked back up, letting out a long breath of air.

Tiz gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in anger. "You know that if this fight gets too out of hand the surrounding planets in your area are going to do something about it! They've fought enough as it is! We don't need another planet destroyed because of them!"

Zim immediately saw where the conversation was going and who Tiz was bringing into this conversation. He looked behind him and waved his hand, telling the others that they needed to leave. As the small group cleared the room with little complaint Zim continued the conversation. "The Humans, as a whole, are a very fragile race, no matter their descent. I understand that the other 'Humans' don't need to be brought into this, I'm doing the best I can to keep it in the Milky Way, but as you know word travels quickly among them."

"Which is why we need to end this before it even starts!" Tiz was getting angry very quickly.

"Do you not think that that's what I've been trying to do!? These Humans don't stand a chance against the the Armada, this planet would be in ruins AGAIN if the fight isn't moved somewhere else!" Zim was doing his best to keep his voice low, knowing that the others were in the room closest to him, and Irkens had very good hearing.

Tiz took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment. "And exactly _where_ would we move it then, huh!? We can't move it to Irk, the Humans would be killed off even quicker there than they would be on Earth!"

Zim knew that there was no where they could go, he was trapped in a corner and he didn't like it. "You're right, but what about Ayre? It could support Human life and it's uninhabited as far as I know."

"And how exactly do you expect to move such a large amount of people, who aren't even ready for this fight, to a planet that's THAT far away? You'd have to have a ship three times as big as the Massive and at least twenty times faster to get there! Where would you acquire such a vessel?" Tiz had folded his arms in annoyance, this was getting them absolutely nowhere.

"Well if we can't move them and they aren't safe here what do you suggest that we do?" Tiz dropped his arms and glared back at Zim.

Said Irken only growled at their predicament, they were stuck and he knew it. So far they were basically trapped.

* * *

Gir had been sent back to the old base to retrieve a new power core for the house that they were living in now. He had walked into the house and it seemed eerie and a little creepy, he really didn't want to be there but he had to get what he was there for.

As he walked across the floor in the living room he had seen the place had been trashed, someone had been there and was either still there or had left a while ago.

The walls had long gashes in them, there was broken glass all over the floor, the curtains were torn to shreds, the sofa had a few rips in it and the stuffing was starting to fall out in large clumps, a few tiles on the floor were broken and cracked, some where missing all together and the picture on the wall of the monkey had fallen behind the couch. Even the wires in the ceiling had been damaged.

Gir tried his best not to freak out and leave the house crying, his Master would surely get angry with him. So he continued to slowly make his way to the toilet, or what was left of it. It had been reduced to rubble and the shaft that led to the labs was visible but the platform was not there, it had been pulled out and tossed carelessly to the side.

Gir did the only thing he could think of, he used his jets to lower himself down the small shaft and to the equipment room. It took a while because was so scared he went very slowly, the only light from the pulsating blue fire of his jets that reflected off of the battered walls of the long tube.

As he got farther down he began to hear a clanking noise, and he began to shake, the closer he got the equipment room the louder the noise became, whoever had destroyed the base was still there. And when he reached his destination he saw a shadow far off in the distance. He was reluctant to enter the room, it was dark, save for a few working lights on the walls.

He stepped onto the floor and shut down his jets, then started to walk around the large room, hugging himself as he passed by boxes of odd instruments and devices. Suddenly he saw the shadow again and he backed up against a box, knocking it to the ground. He screamed and ran in a different direction, not caring where hew as going as long it was away from who or whatever was in the room with him.

Gir was desperate to get out of the room, he was scared, alone and practically defenceless.

There was a long scrapping sound a ways behind him, when he turned to see what it was he saw the shadow and a trail of sparks flying up from the metal floor. He just about fainted had he not spotted the spare power core laying on the floor a few yards from where he was standing.

The shadow began to advance on him and Gir went screaming towards the power core, snatching it up in his arms. Once he was sure he wouldn't drop it he bolted for the exit, using his jets for a quick escape. He had to pass over the figure to get away and the glow of the fire gleamed off one of the long blades that the shadow was wielding. Gir was able to catch a small glimpse of it's face.

He was Irken no doubt, his eyes were blood red and his fangs were barred, anger was radiating off of him and a single strand of black hair hung in his face. Other than that he was still a shadow and Gir didn't care to know why he was there, he just flew by him and up the shaft and tried to get away as fast as he could.

Once Gir had reached the house level of the base he rammed through the front door screaming bloody murder for fear the that the Irken was close behind. When he was out in the open he let himself look back, seeing that he hadn't been followed, then flew away from the base and towards the island.

* * *

Red sat in his chair laughing to himself, knowing that the probe he had sent to Zim's new base had done it's job, destroyed his power core and left them without electricity. He was aware that they had auxiliary power but that wouldn't last long so he decided to celebrate.

"Sir, we've got some interesting news." Tik had entered the room and was frowning in concern.

Red stopped laughing and looked down at the Irken below him, irritated that his fun had been cut short. "What is it now, Tik?"

"We've recieved record of Zim's original base and the whole place has been trashed." He looked down at the papers in his hands, intrigued by the finding.

The Tallest sighed, his patience was growing thin. "I don't really care about that base anymore, so what someone broke in and trashed the place. It was probably just some Human being stupid."

Tik shook his head and shuffled through the report. "No Sir, it wasn't a Human. The base's computer was able to get a picture of the intruder before it was destroyed completely."

Red held out a clawed hand and waited for the picture of who must be of some importance. He felt a thin sheet of paper slip into his hand and he looked at it, instantly enraged by what he saw. "No!"

Tik nodded and gave Red the file to prove the identity of the Irken. "He's left Ayre's moon, Xyle and found Earth. Should we send someone down to get him and bring him here?"

Red thought for a moment. "We could but he's very quick so capturing him wont be easy. Send down a group of soldiers and see what they can do. If he kills them off then we send a few Elites to slow him down."

"What exactly are we trying to accomplish, My Tallest? Just so I know who to send out." Tik looked up as Red sneered.

"We keep him away from Zim, if he were to find him then we'd be in trouble for sure." Red looked away and shouted a command to one of the ComTechs, then turned back to Tik, who looked very confused.

"What's his connection to Zim?" he asked curiously.

Red shook his head, refusing to let out that kind of information. "That's classified, just keep the two away from each other. And make sure Zim doesn't learn of his arrival on Earth!"

Tik didn't argue and head towards the door, only for Red to call out for him once more.

"And fire whoever is in charge of erasing memories!"

Tik wondered for a brief moment why Red would want him to do that but soon shrugged it off and headed out through the doors and down to the Battle Wing of the ship.

* * *

Gir burst through the front door of the house and slammed the door shut, finally feeling safe and relieved. Zim must have heard the loud noise and made his way towards his robot, long since ending his conversation with Tiz.

"Did you find it?" he asked, kneeling down in front of Gir to see if he had been able to retrieve the power core. Gir took it from his head and placed it within Zim's hands. "Good!"

"Master, there was somebody at the base." Gir said quivering, looking up at Zim.

"Who?" he asked, not really thinking much of it, it was probably some Human that found the base and scared Gir by accident.

Gir didn't say anything for a moment, he was still unnerved. "I don't know, but he was scary lookin'! And he made the house all broken!"

Zim looked his robot over and decided that this might be of importance. "Do you know what he looks like?" A description would hardly be worth much but it was a start.

"He was really dark green and his eyes were all red and squinty! And he had two big pointy thingies! And hair!" Gir flailed his arms about and blinked a few times when he was done.

Zim stood up and stored the information in the back of his mind for later, right now he had a lot of work to do. He walked away from Gir and headed down the hall, replacing the old damaged power core with the new one was first on the list, then he had to do something about the issue involving the other Humans.

* * *

"So, what exactly are you doing again?"

Kasandra sighed and hung her head, irritated by her friend's lack of comprehension abilities.

She had ceen able to contact Auzie one again but once again the only other one home was her mother, both her father and brother weren't there.

"We are trying to defend planet Earth against the entire Irken Armada! But of course you wouldn't know anything about that now would you?" Kassie folded her arms and looked at the screen intently.

"No! Because Mom and Dad wont let us watch the news! I don't get it, there is absolutely no logic to it at all! They say it's because the Irken race is too 'violent'." She pouted and looked away for a second.

There was a short moment of silence before Gir came running into the room screaming about giant mutant vampire waffles. "They is gonna EAT US AAALLLLLLLL!!!!" He didn't notice Kasandra standing in front of him so he ran right into her and fell backwards onto the floor.

"Aww! He's cute!" Auzie looked at the little robot as he began to run around in circles screaming about how 'The trees have turned into evil thorn shrubs that make mean waffles and send them out to kill all of the rainbow ponies.'

"Tch, are you kidding? He's stupid, and very annoying!" Kassie stuck out her foot and tripped Gir, then walked off screen and all Auzie could hear was a loud bang and a happy squeal that came from Gir.

They looked at each other for a second before a laser beam flew into the room behind Kassie and hit something that sounded expensive... and valuable.

Then the culprit, Dib, walked into the room with a very large laser gun in his right hand. "Oops." Then he looked at the two that were staring at him from the other side of the room. "Uh, you didn't see that okay?" then he walked out and pretended that nothing had ever happened.

"... WOW! I real Human! Cool!" Auzie tried to get another glimpse of him but he was already gone.

"Yeah, a real DORK." Though Kasandra didn't have anything against Dib at all, she did find him to be a bit dorky and obsessive. Not that that was a bad thing, but she just thought that maybe he needed a little help with a few things.

"So, Earth is still okay right? I mean, it's not in ruins is it?" Being the huge expert of Earth, Auzie had always wanted to go there and the see the planet for herself, at least _before_ it got blown up.

Kassie rolled her eyes. "Not yet." She honestly didn't see what the big deal was, it was just ONE measly little planet, how much value could it possibly posses?

"No! You have to save it! I-I STILL NEED TO SEE A REAL LIFE MONGOOSE! And a whale! A narwhal! The Unicorns of the sea!" Her eyes bugged for a moment as she went into an emotional rant of what she still needed to see and the things she wanted to do. "And I also have to see the Loch Ness Monster! And I have to go scream insults at their government! And-and-and-and-!"

Kassie had had just about enough of the little rant. "Auzie! Be quiet!"

"But I still have to pwn somebody at Halo Wars! And DDR! You just don't understand! There is so much I still need to DO!" That's when she started to whine and pout.

"Trust me, Earth is not all that great; the people here are stupid, it's covered in acid, it's so polluted that it's too hot to do ANYTHING and the Loch Ness Monster doesn't exist!" Kasnadra had obviously yelled this loud enough for Dib to hear, for the boy came stomping into the room.

"The Loch Ness Monster does SO exist!" He yelled jabbing a finger at her.

She stood on her toes to make herself look taller. "Prove it!"

Dib glared angrily at her before feeling the sting of defeat and leaving in a huff.

"That's what I thought!" Kasandra smiled in triumph and turned back to Auzie. "Well I probably should go help with something, I'll see if I can't come and visit when this is all over okay?"

"'Kay, bye!"

Kassie cut the transmission and left the room to go back upstairs.

* * *

"I'm hungry." Aneera was lying on the couch tossing one of Gir's rubber pigs into the air repeatedly with her tail, so bored out of her mind that she might as well have been going crazy.

Tak walked into the room with a small jar of glowing purple goo. "Me too." She looked upstairs and screamed at Zim's bedroom door. "Hey! Don't we have anything decent to eat around here!?"

There was a crash and Zim came stumbling out of the room, closing the door quickly behind him. "Uh..." was all that he could think of to say.

"You mean that there is NOTHING to eat!?" Tak yelled, her stomach protesting in agreement.

Gaz then walked into the living room where the others were. "He's got plenty of stuff to MAKE food, but that's about it. Unless we have somebody here that can cook we'll have to go a while without eating."

Everybody was now in the room and began to whisper among themselves, until Gir finally spoke up.

"I'll make waffles!" he volunteered, but everyone screamed a horrified 'NO!' at him so he just sunk back down in his seat, lowering his raised hand.

"I can cook, sort of." Dib stepped out in front of the group and smiled a little.

"You cook?" Aneera threw the pig violently at Gir, who squealed with joy, and sat up.

"Yeah, I cooked for Gaz a lot 'cause Dad was never home and he didn't let us go out to eat. I mean I'm no chef or anything but-" he was cut off.

"Good enough for me!" Tak stepped into the kitchen and sat down at the table, picking up a fork and knife. "Doughnuts! Doughnuts! Doughnuts!" she began to chant, all of the Irkens following suite.

Dib sighed and got to cooking.

* * *

Soon Tak, Zink, Zim, Aneera and Noah were all happily munching away their doughnuts, getting frosting and cream filling everywhere. But of course it wouldn't be as good if you didn't wear any, so as tradition called for they all got something spilled on them, purposefully of course.

Dib sat the table, his head resting in his arms, exhausted from the demanding group of doughnut hungry savages. Now that they'd been satisfied what was he gonna cook for everyone else?

"What about us?" Gaz asked, poking her brother with a fork that she'd gotten out of a drawer. "We're still hungry."

Dib sat up and shot her a nasty glare. "I'm thinking! Mind making any suggestions!?"

Kasandra stepped in and offered him some help. "How about sushi?"

Dib groaned again and stood up, getting back to work.

* * *

After about an hour Dib had successfully made sixteen little bite sized pieces of sushi, served with wasabi and just for good measure, one panna cotta for each person.

"There, happy now?" he asked, sitting in front of his own plate of raw fish and veggies.

Nobody said anything to respond so he just let it go and put a whole piece of sushi in his mouth to avoid further conversation.

Everyone looked pleased enough though, they didn't gag or puke when they ate it so it must have been good. Though Ara had a little trouble getting over the fact that he was eating raw fish.

Supper was quiet, not even Gir said anything much, he was still upset over what had happened earlier, something told him that they'd meet again, very, very soon.

* * *

Everyone went to bed after they ate, they were all tired and exhausted from a hard day's work, some more so than others.

The house was now fully operational and working, Zim had made sure that everything was in tip top shape and everything was in working order before he went to bed. So the lights went out after everyone had gone to bed, the halls and rooms going dark and all of the doors and windows automatically locked themselves to keep intruders out.

Zink, Gir and Minimoose were all piled in her ship sleeping soundly. Gir was curled up in the front seat, Minimoose was sleeping on his head comfortably and Zink took up the bench in the back, snoozing soundly.

Dib was lying in his bed with his glasses still on, askew on his face. In one hand was a book that he'd been reading to help him fall asleep, while his other hand fell limply off the side of his bed. He hadn't even bothered to change into his pajamas he was so tired. His hand twitched every few seconds and he was lightly drooling from his slumber.

Gaz had all windows covered so that her room was completely dark and she had the covers pulled up over her head. All of her stuffed animals were on high alert and made sure that no one entered her sacred room.

Noah was granted yet another good night's sleep as Gir was with Zink and his bed was unoccupied by said robot. Though Noah's bed was unoccupied too, he had fallen asleep in his stool, sitting in front of his drum set. His head rested snugly on his snare drum and a small puddle of drool was starting to collect at the rim of the drum. His arms were limp and he was still clutching onto the drumsticks while he slept. He had also started to quietly snore.

Kasandra and Ara were having a rather normal night of sleep, both tucked in their beds, dreaming of happy things, such as rainbows, unicorns, giant happy sea monsters, dancing trees and happy exploding pinatas.

Aneera was lying right in the middle of the bed, having shoved Zim over to the edge of the bed, not that either of then had noticed. She had also pulled the comforter completely off of him and had wrapped it unconsciously around herself, smiling in her sleep.

However, Zim was not having a good night's sleep, he was being tormented by one of his childhood nightmares.

* * *

_There were Elite Soldiers everywhere, tearing into peoples houses and destroying everything in sight. Sirens were going off in the distance and the bright glow of a strong fire and many little ones were the only thing that lit up the night sky. Smoke had clouded over everything and the soldiers marched through the streets, showing no mercy._

_Irkens were running everywhere, trying to resist the soldiers sent to get new recruits. People were screaming as they tried in vain to escape, some were beaten to the point where they couldn't put up a fight anymore. Others were shocked with the Elite's batons, leaving burn marks and scars._

_A group of three soldiers burst into a home that was on the corner of the street. They kicked the door down and scanned the room for any useful recruits, spotting two young Irkens backed into the corner, the mother holding them protectively while the father stepped in front of the soldiers._

_"Step aside!" one of them called, raising his baton defensively, ready to strike should he not recieve cooperation. "Each family must do it's share!"_

_The Irken refused to move, barring his fangs in anger and taking a fighting position. He let out a shrieking howl as he was attacked by the offender, though he didn't go down. He grabbed the baton with one hand and with the other one, twisted it out of the Elite's grip, then broke it in two and tossed the halves to the side._

_The other two soldiers began to advance on the two brothers in the corner and their mother, who was standing in front of them. One of them spoke up and said, "If you hand them over willingly you just might be spared!"_

_She gave no response but only crouched, her children cowering behind her._

_"Very well!" he said, and began to advance on her, his partner close behind._

_The other Irken had just crippled the Elite he had been quarreling with and snapped his neck, then heard a scream. He turned to see the mother pinned against the wall, screaming for her life. "Jaxie!" he called, rushing at the soldier and knocking him to the ground._

_The two smeets were left unprotected just long enough for on Elite to get a hold of them, trying desperately to get them to stop squirming. He dropped one as the smeet bit him with such incredible force that he began to loose blood very quickly, growing weak._

_"Run!" the other called, still trapped in the soldier's grasp. "I'll be okay! I pwomise!" He was in such a position that he couldn't move but the Elite began to stagger and had a hard time walking._

_The bigger smeet stood in disbelief that his brother was being taken by the Armada. "Nooo! I won't let them take you!" He began to run after his little brother but was snatched by his mother as she called for him._

_The father was still fighting with the other soldier, both weaponless. Neither of them was in the best condition but the Elite had the upper hand, punching his opponent and sent him crashing into a wall._

_"You just had to fight back didn't you!? You couldn't make my job any easier could you!?" he yelled, lashing out once again. He slashed his claws across the other's face, leaving a gash down the left side of his face that ran from his left eye to his jaw. It hit with such force that he fell to the floor and screamed in agony. "Pathetic."_

_He walked away and picked up his baton then made for the exit, but saw that his partner was in bad shape. He struck him with his baton and killed him, picking up the smeet and walking out the door, leaving a bloody mess behind him._

* * *

"AAHHHHH!" Zim woke in a cold sweat, screaming as tears ran down his face. When he stopped he began to pant and look around, his head becoming dizzy.

He'd apparently woken up Aneera and she was now sitting next to him and asking questions.

"Are you alright!?" She was sure he was fine but she couldn't help but worry about him anyway.

Zim didn't say anything, he just shook his head put his hands over the ends of his antennae, every little sound putting him in even more pain. He bowed his head and shut his eyes, trying to calm his breathing and get his thoughts straight.

When he had eventually composed himself he sat up straight and let out a long suppressed breath of air, gently laying back on his pillow. He then looked over at Aneera, who was still sitting up straight with a horrified look on her face.

Zim smiled weakly, "I'm fine." he whispered, still feeling a large amount of pain in his throat from screaming.

She didn't believe him but laid back down anyway, taking the covers off herself and pulling them up to his shoulders.

Zim didn't fall back asleep that night, he stayed awake for fear that the dream would come back and he would have to bear witness to fate of the little smeet. He didn't know why but he felt so much for the small Irken, he felt a sort of connection of some sort between them , but he always had.

He remembered the first time he'd had the dream, he was about sixteen acording to the humans and Aneera had already left him. He had woken up screaming, and instead of just being a little freaked out he had started sobbing, wailing and screaming in anger and complete terror. He refused to go to school, he wouldn't leave the bedroom in his labs and didn't sleep for a week. He had been a total mess, but was never sure why.

Dib had asked him about it a few times but it only made Zim angry and upset, he usually yelled at Dib to keep out of his business and leave him alone. The first week he did return to school everyone labeled him 'emo' because he didn't talk to anyone, he always looked down when he walked and he always appeared unhappy.

He still hasn't figured out why he's had this dream or what it meant, he just knew that he didn't like it and wanted more than anything for it to go away forever.

* * *

The next morning Zim wouldn't come out of his bedroom, the dream had once again rendered him upset and scared. He didn't want to have anything to do with anybody, he turned down breakfast and wouldn't speak to anyone other than telling them to go away.

He sat curled up on the bed and was staring off into space, doing the best he could to forget what happened the night before. He just couldn't understand why something such as a feeble dream would upset him so much.

There was a knock on the door but he remained silent, hopefully they would know that he was in no mood to talk and leave him alone. Unfortunately the person kept on knocking, persistent to talk with Zim, who just wanted to be left alone.

"Go away!" he snapped, maybe that would work.

They knocked again.

"I thought I told you to go away!" Zim hissed just for good measure, but still they wouldn't leave. He sighed and got up, stretching his legs, and walked over to the door, jerking it open with an annoyed 'WHAT!?'

It was Dib, he should have known. "Hi, Zim. Um, will you come downstairs, please?" he asked, being as gentle as he possibly could.

Zim narrowed his eyes. "Why?" Couldn't he have some peace and quiet, was that too much to ask?

"Uh, well," Dib started, unsure of how to put this. "You know that thing that you planted on one of the satellites when you saved the Earth from planet Jackers?" He stopped, getting a nod from Zim. "Well we think it found something."

Zim stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him. "What kind of something?"

"More Irkens." Dib said quickly, hoping that Zim wouldn't go into a rampage of fury like he does when he hears bad news. "But we don't know if they're with us or not."

Zim didn't hear that last part, he dashed around Dib and ran down the stairs, ignoring the comments and questions people threw at him as they saw him pass by.

Dib followed close behind, eager to know where Zim was going and what he was going to do. They stepped into the lift that was nestled into the wall next to the living room, taking it up to one of the higher levels of the house, just below the hanger.

For the whole ride Zim was mumbling to himself about how he had enough problems and all he wanted was some peace and quiet, but he quickly shut his mouth when the lift stopped. Ara, Tiz and Zink were all crowded around a small screen that was mounted on the wall, showing a radar of four little blips. They were close together, obviously going after something, another blip it appeared to be, but the blip they were following kept changing colors from green to red and back to green again.

"What did it find?" Zim walked over to the screen to see for himself that his little gadget had indeed picked up signs of other Irkens, and one entity that it was unsure of, how odd.

Zink and Ara stepped to the side and let Tiz explain since he was a technician and he knew what he was walking about, though they stayed close by, having Dib join them.

"It found four Irkens heading south on North America, but your little gizmo can't make up it's mind about the fifth little guy, it's either Irken or it's only part Irken." Tiz stepped to the side and let Zim get close enough to see where on the continent they were.

He looked at the area that they were heading away from, obviously where they started, and noticed something strange. "They're heading away from my base, why are they in the area?"

Tiz cringed at the mention of the old base. "Yeah, about that. Um, well we got a a message a while ago. Unfortunately the base was sabotaged. We then got another message and it said that the old computer had been hacked into by the Massive and they stole some files and destroyed our link to the video feed. We're not sure why but I guess Red wanted something and he didn't want us to have it."

"Tch, since when does he have something he _wants _us to have? Do we have anything that'll give us information on who or what destroyed my base!?" Zim clenched his fists in annoyance and squinted his eyes.

"No we don't and I still haven't been able to establish a link to anything in your computer, it's as if the Massive sent a signal to the base and put all of your channels on a private line directly to the Massive. No one else will be able to access it but them... but why?" Tiz flipped through some papers that he had brought up with him and scowled at the information.

Zim slammed his fists on the console and growled, he was so mad that he had half a mind to take his Runner up to the Massive and just burst in as a one man army. "I'm calling Red." and with that he turned to leave.

"What!? Are you insane!? You can't just call him!" Tiz turned around and went after Zim.

"Watch me." Zim entered the lift but Tiz quickly jumped in after him, ignoring the warnings and threats that Zim threw at him.

Zim didn't pay any attention to what his friend was saying to him, all he was focused on was finding out what Red was trying to keep from him and why. When the lift stopped he stepped out with Tiz right on his heels, persistent to change Zim's mind before he made a mistake that they couldn't afford.

"Computer, send a transmission to the Massive." Zim ordered, getting a snide remark from his computer but otherwise did as he was told. The computer still had the same personality it did back at the old base.

The TV went black for a amoment before Red and all of his unsightly glory was displayed on the screen.

"Well! Isn't this a pleasant surprise!" Red said, pretending to sound glad about Zim calling him.

"Don't go there with me! What have you done to my base!?" Zim glared at the taller Irken and balled his hands into fists, trying not to loose it and make a fool of himself.

"I didn't do anything! Someone else did! I just made it imposible for you to access whatever still worked! Don't go pointing claws at me!" Red looked a bit offended by the assumption, he had been sitting in the bridge on his ship out in the middle of nowhere in space, there was no way _he_ could have done it.

Zim scrunched up his face. "Well then you know who did! Now tell me!" he demanded, twitching his antennae.

Red sighed and ran his hand along the side of his face. "I'm really sick of explaining this to everyone. That is classified information! Especially to you! Only Irk knows what kind of doom you'd bring to us all should you know that!"

Zim's antennae perked up a bit. "Do I know this person?"

"I'm not saying another word about it other than I've already sent out a group of soldiers to seize him and bring him back here. Now, is there anything else you'd like to address while the subject is present? If you do then be quick about it, I've got to ignore you in five minutes." Red then looked expectantly at Zim while he sipped his soda to calm his nerves.

Zim wasn't exactly expecting Red to invite them to talk about something but he really didn't have anything else to say. "No, not yet."

"Well good, if you do you know where to find me." Red smiled as the transmission was cut.

* * *

A group of four Irken soldiers silently crept through the dense trees of the forest, following a being that had fled from them a while ago.

"Zar, do you have visual yet?" One of the soldiers in the back looked up towards Zar, who was at the front of the group.

"Negative, he's still moving though." Zar looked behind him and made sure his troop was still following close behind. Once he turned back around and began walking again his radar started to beep. "He's stopped! No wait, he's coming back!" The Irken pivoted on his heels and ran for it, motioning for his fellow soldiers to follow.

Xir, the Irken who had been at the back of the group looked up ahead to find their target moving towards them, fast. Xir turned and ran after the others, but tripped on a vine and yelped in fear. When he turned and looked up the "Irken" was looming over him, eyes blazing red and fangs barred.

"Oh look at you, were you sent to stop me?" he asked, pulling two long blades out from behind him.

Xir couldn't speak, he was so scared he almost fainted.

The taller, supposed Irken looked over his weapons before putting them back and sighing. "Oh well, I guess you'll just have to take me in now wont you?" He then picked up the shorter soldier and set him on his feet.

Xir looked back and saw that the others had stayed to watch, obviously amazed by the sight before them. He then looked back at the other and was startled when he held out his wrists, giving himself up. "What?"

"Weren't you supposed to come and capture me?" he asked, getting a nod from Xir. "Well then, take me in!"

Xir didn't hesitate to disobey, pulling out a pair of rings and snapping them in place around the taller Irken's hands. They bound him by a small electrical connection and Xir led him away with the other three soldiers following close behind him.

They walked in silence for a while as they marched towards their ship, the snapping of twigs and the sound of wind rustling through the trees were the only disturbances of the otherwise quiet walk. It was a long trek back to the ship and the captive began to look bored.

"Are we there yet!? I'm bored!" he whined, dragging his feet just to annoy the soldiers, which wasn't working. He groaned and looked at the others, they seemed a bit put off by his complaining. "I'm hungry too!"

Zar took his electric baton and poked their captive, giving him a small shock to warn him that his complaining would not be tolerated.

"OW! What was that for!?" The Irken looked down and glared at Zar, wanting so bad to just trip him and laugh.

"Quiet you!" Zar snapped.

"Unless you want us to tie you up you'll keep your mouth shut!" This soldier, a three and a half foot tall, lanky little female, sneered at him.

He wasn't amused by the shorter Irkens at all. "I do have a name you know."

"I don't really care." Zar replied, poking him again.

This time he only flinched, blowing a loose strand of hair out of his face. Then smiled upon the sight of the ship. "Oh finally! I'm exhausted!"

"I thought I told you to SHUT UP!" Zar yelled, looking angrily at the captive.

Said Irken looked down unimpressed, feeling no threat at all towards him. "You know, if I _really_ wanted to I could whip out a can of BUTT KICKIN' and make you wish I'd already killed you!"

They reached the side of the ship and a side panel released itself from the ship and slid to the side, letting them all inside. Zar ungratefully shoved the tall Irken inside and order Xir to chain him up and figure out a way to keep his mouth shut.

Xir did as he was told and took the captive by his cuffs and led him to the cell at the back of the small ship. He put his hand on the scanner and the door opened with a hiss. He then gently nudged the other into the cell, looking at the ground the whole time, not wanting to make any eye contact.

"Xir, take away his weapons! I don't want him getting any ideas!" Zar snapped, starting up the ship and letting Xir take the blades from the other Irken and buckle himself in before taking off. After he was out in space he sent a transmission to the Massive to inform Red of their successful capture.

* * *

"Sir, we're receiving a transmission from one of our CT ships." One of the ComTechs turned in his seat and looked over at Purple as Red was absent to go and have his lunch.

Purple thought to himself, what was Red doing with a Criminal Transportation ship out? "Hmmm... Answer." he commanded, curious to know who had been captured and what Red wanted with him.

The ComTech turned back around and answered the transmission, waiting patiently as the computer connected to the signal.

After a few minutes the screen flickered to life and a small group of regular soldiers inside of a simple CT ship was displayed on the screen. The one at the controls blinked in surprise, not expecting to see Tallest Purple.

"Uh, greetings my Tallest. Is there a chance that Tallest Red is nearby? We would like to speak with him." Zar spoke a bit nervously.

"I'm sorry but he's busy, though I'd be happy to relay the information to him." Purple wasn't the sweetest doughnut in the bag but he knew how to corner people in a conversation.

Zar pulled on his collar and swallowed. "Well, uh, this information wasn't supposed to be discussed with anyone but him."

Purple folded his arms and smirked. "I am your Tallest, now tell me what you need to report."

"But-" Zar tried.

"That's an order!" Purple wasn't always known for being the intimidating one but because of that his death glare was twice as powerful than Red's, just because people didn't expect that from him.

Zar bit at his lip and he desperately tried to get out of the situation but failed. He sighed and hung his head in shame while he he gave his report. "We've captured the Irken and are heading back to the Massive."

Purple was about to ask who they had captured when the door behind him opened with a rush of cold air. Purple turned around to see Red walking in with a half eaten doughnut in one hand and a soda in the other.

Purple had been caught.

* * *

Aneera: Yay! My other favorite character finally gets to make his appearance! WOO!

Zim: .....Who is your _most_ favoritest character?

Aneera: I'm glad this chapter is long, maybe it'll make up for other shorter ones.

Zim: I'm still your most favoritest right!?

Aneera: So leave a review! Please and thank you!

Zim: RIGHT!?

Aneera: ...... LEFT!


	28. Moon Fight!

Purple looked in horror as Red crossed the floor, but not with a bit of anger present on his features. He almost seemed calm if anything, but Purple wasn't falling for whatever trick he was throwing at him.

"Oh, hello Pur, what are you doing?" Red asked with a sickly sweet voice, smiling sarcastically before he noticed who was on the main view screen. "Zar! You're alive! Wow, I though for sure he'd slice your limbs off." Red then looked to the side and made faces at the scene he pictured in his mind of Zar's arms being decapitated from his body.

"Actually, my Tallest, he came willingly." Zar replied, looking back hatefully at the cell that contained the horrible prisoner.

Red's head shot up and he looked stupidly at the other. "Willingly? But... but why?"

Zar sneered and wanted nothing more then to drop the subject of the other Irken. "He didn't say, but he's _extremely _annoying! We'd be more then happy to hand him over. We'll meet you on the ship soon, my Tallest." Not wanting to further their conversation, Zar cut the transmission.

Purple whipped his head around and glared daggers at his co-Tallest. "Who have you captured? And why!?"

Red took a long drink from his soda, momentarily ignoring Purple, then he sighed contently and looked over at the other Tallest. "I can't tell you any of that, sorry! Well If you'll excuse me I have to go prepare for our newest arrival, see ya!" Red smiled again and turned to leave, handing his empty cup to one of the ComTechs, who just looked down at the cup with pure hatred.

Purple looked around and saw Skoodge talking with on the technicians that was repairing a wire in one of the control panels. He hovered over and jerked Skoodge around and looked pleadingly at him, before he remembered, "Man you are UGLY!... But I need you to do something for me."

"Of course my Tallest!" Skoodge saluted. "What can I do for you?"

"I need you to spy on Red for me." Purple said quietly.

* * *

"Come on you!" Zar snapped, yanking on the captive's cuffs.

The taller Irken sighed in annoyance and frowned. "I _do _have a name! And it's not 'you'! It's-!"

"Quiet! Soon you'll before our leader, SO YOU BETTER BEHAVE YOURSELF!" Zar screeched, getting the other's face.

He recoiled and looked down upon Zar. "God, you act like my mom!" he complained, pouting with fury. "And when can I have my swords back!? I miss them!" he shouted, looking for Xir.

Zar hung his head, getting rid of this fool wouldn't be quick enough even if he killed him right then. But Red had required an audience with him, for whatever reason he couldn't possibly understand.

Zar led the strange Irken through the halls to room two sixty-seven where Red wanted them to meet, hoping that something horrible would be done to him. Thankfully it didn't take him long to come upon the room, beaming with utter glee as he opened the door and thrust the other Irken in, following close behind.

"Where are we!? And why is this room made of concrete?" The captive asked, noticing the long gashes in the middle of the floor between two shackles and what seemed to be the freshest blood in the room. "What is this place?"

"We are in room two sixty-seven, our torture chamber." Zar said happily.

The other Irken looked up in horror, what had he gotten himself into? He began to look around nervously but the door had disappeared! Completely! "GAH! Where's the door!?"

Zar smiled even wider, his teeth looking vicious in the lighting. "We use a technology that allows us to seal off openings using small nanobots inside of the material, so there is no way out, at least not for you."

The Irken glared and was about to scream Irken curses at Zar but the door came back into view and Red slipped into the room, letting Zar leave in such happiness.

Red let the door shut all the way before he said anything, looking almost unhappily at the other. "Well I certainly expected better from you, Bryan. Why did you let them take you?"

The captive, now named Bryan, looked at the other smugly. "Well, I wanted to talk to you personally."

"Aww, I'm flattered!" Red replied with fake sarcasm. "What is it that you wish to know?"

Bryan stood up straight and crossed his arms. "Well I was wondering about this dream I've been having for some time now."

Red looked surprised at what he was being confronted about. "A measly dream? That's what you got yourself captured for? Well I'll tell you what I can but before I do, I want to ask you something. What were you doing on Earth?" Red put on a look of such fake curiosity it was almost noticeable.

"Well, I came looking for something. I'm not sure what it is but I know it's on that planet." he said, running a hand through his hair and blowing at the strand that hung in his face.

Red scowled and huffed out a breath. "Well then I have nothing to offer you. I'm sorry but I can't help you."

"Oh, but I think you can." Bryan smiled a sick, deranged smile. "You see, you're keeping something from me and I'd like to know what."

"And what makes you think that I'd tell you?" Red asked, obviously giving up the act and folding his arms, almost amused by the way he was talking to him, a Tallest!

Bryan narrowed his eyes, balling his hands into tight fists.

* * *

"ZIM!"

His name had been called at least twenty times, but he didn't respond, he was too busy to let them know where he was and distract him from his work. Right now he was trying to hack into the Massive's private channel that was stealing the signal from his old base, doing his best to keep anyone on the Massive from noticing.

Right now he was currently into the Massive's signal transmitter and was searching through their channels, not really sure which was the one stealing his base's signal.

"ZIM!" the voice called out again, but he was too busy to figure out who it was, also too busy to care.

He waited a minute and when he was sure they were going to stop someone walked into the room, once again screaming out his name.

Zim turned around and scowled at whoever had entered the room. "What!?" he yelled, obviously annoyed.

Aneera stepped into the room with Tak, a good distance between them. "Why didn't you answer?" Aneera asked, placing her fists on her hips to show that he wasn't the only one who was unnerved.

"I'm busy! What do you want?" he asked again, turning back to what he was doing and kept on sifting through files and coordinates. He huffed and moaned, why did this have to be so hard!?

"We were watching the news and-" Tak started, but was interrupted.

"So what!? It's all junk! Don't you know that they just make stuff up?" Zim snapped, not happy that he'd been bothered with something like the news.

Aneera stepped closer and slid a paper over to where his hand was. "I don't think this is fake." she whispered, crossing her arms as he read through the report.

He rolled his eyes and got about halfway through it before he scowled, then began to read out loud. "'Strange figure appeared running into the woods just two miles south of alien's old base', what? This can't be... 'Appeared to be carrying two long blades, officials say that it's a danger but others aren't sure.' This is stupid!... 'Group of four other "aliens" were seen pursuing the dark figure into the woods'... 'Have the aliens been lying? Are they planning against us?.'" Zim turned around and looked at the two girls before him.

"Well?" Tak asked, looking at him intently.

"It's Red, I just know it. It's got his name written all over it!" Zim handing the report back to Aneera and went back to the computer in front of him. "Did they get a picture?" he asked, hopeful.

"You know they didn't." Aneera replied while she handed the paper off to Tak who left the room, leaving the two alone. "What are you doing?"

"Hacking." was all she got.

Zim found a few files and hacked through them so he could save them for later, but otherwise kept his search going. There were just so many channels and so many being used by so many different signals, it was close to impossible to find the one that was transmitting to his house out in the middle of nowhere in space! He sighed and held his head in his hands, groaning in frustration.

Aneera slowly walked up behind him and stared at the screen, eyes briefly getting slightly bigger. "You'll be here for days trying to find it."

"I know!" he whined, scowling hatefully at the monitor before him, wanting nothing more than to just toss it out the window and yell meaningless insults at it until it hit the ground. He soon felt hands on his shoulders, relieving his stress, he's been sitting in the same position for hours.

Aneera was about to open her mouth to nag him about the time and that he needed sleep but the loud echoing of boots hitting the smooth metal floor made them both turn their heads.

Dib burst through the door with a huge stupid grin on his face. "I think I've solved one of our problems!"

* * *

The three had moved to the ground level of the new base and Dib began to tell them of his solution to the whole 'How are we supposed to keep this fight in the Milky Way without attracting other people from other planets!?' problem.

"Wait, how do you know about that!?" Zim snapped, glaring at Dib.

He looked unhappily at Zim for interrupting his genius idea. "I eavesdropped, you two were quite loud."

Zim shrugged, he had to admit that he did loose his temper a bit, motioning for Dib to proceed.

"So, I think I may have found a place for us to go when the Irkens come and declare war." He got unsettling looks from the two before him, but ignored them and continued. "We could fight on the MOON!" he exclaimed, happy with himself.

The two looked at him, thinking as though the boy had officially _gone crazy_.

"The moon? Dib we can't just-" but Zim was interrupted.

"Look, it's not too far from Earth to transport a lot of people quickly and efficiently. Plus it's big enough and it's in the Milky Way!" Dib figured he'd argued his point enough, but Zim still wasn't convinced.

Said alien sighed and gazed, unimpressed, at Dib. "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to fight on the moon? It would be like an old and horribly made slow motion movie!" Zim said, flinging his arms into the air and widening his eyes. "People would be screaming battle cries for at least five minutes before the two ACTUALLY made contact! And then it would take them forever to aim and shoot each other! It would make both the Humans and Irkens look like incompetent fools, all moving in slow motion! In case you havent noticed there isn't as much gravity on the moon as there is on Earth!" When Zim finished rant he'd thought he'd won, but he was sadly mistaken.

"I've already got that covered!" Dib beamed with pride, crossing his arms.

Zim's happy face turned to a dumbstruck distorted expression. "Eh?"

"The "government" has been hiding quite a few things from us. Especially in Area 51." He watched as Zim cringed at the mention of the name. "I don't go on the Swollen Eyeball Network much anymore but I still contact Agent Tuna Ghost and she knows people. I talked to her and she said she could help. Apparently the scientists that work in Area 51 have made some sort of battle suit that was meant for space conflicts on surfaces with less gravity than Earth's. They just recently started a production line of them when they hear of this whole Irken predicament. So far they've got enough for the Army and almost enough for the Marines." He finished with an even bigger and stupider grin.

Zim thought about this for a moment, then asked, "But don't the Marines work out in the ocean?"

Dib glared at him, that was the best he came up with? "They don't have to! They can manage on the moon!"

"I guess, but how are we gonna get them there?"

"That's for you to figure out! After all, you're the one with all of the high tech stuff!" Dib argued.

"Well yeah but most of it's at your disposal too!" Zim pointed out, pointing a finger at Dib.

Who was about to say something but soon realized that that particular conversation could not be argued on his part. "But it's not like you're really doing anything anyways!"

"Yes I am!... Sort of..." Zim looked up and pretended like he hadn't said that.

Dib glared at him, then decided to get back on topic. "Well anyway, I was able to get some blueprints for the battle suit so you can send it to the the other Irkens if you need to."

Zim scoffed at him and flicked his wrist to dismiss the idea. "We Irkens don't need your technology! We already have suits like that! It's a standard PAK function."

"Yeah, a function YOU DON'T HAVE!" Dib pointed out, knowing that Zim had had everything taken out of his PAK, so that function was not available to him anymore.

Zim suddenly realized this and grew very agitated. "Yeah well... I wouldn't be caught dead wearing your pathetic technology!"

"And you will be if you don't!" Dib crossed his arms and leaned back against the couch, indicating in body language that Zim was going to lose this argument no matter what.

He seemed to see that himself and muttered an almost inaudible 'fine' under his breath, completely disgusted by the idea. Then another thought came to mind. "Hey, I don't remember asking the Army or Marines to help us, who did?"

"I did." Gaz walked by, a piece of pizza hanging out of her mouth, thus distorting her response, but not making it totally inconceivable.

Zim said no more and nodded, thinking quietly to himself, leaving the other two to converse amongst themselves.

"You aren't coming up with us are you?" Aneera asked, steeling a glance at Dib.

"I didn't think you were going! Shouldn't you stay here where it's safe?" Dib didn't know that she had planned to come along.

"Shouldn't you? We'd have a much better chance of winning if I was up there, you know that." she replied.

Dib thought about it but realized that Area 51 hadn't made a dragon sized battle suit. "We don't have a suit for you, you'll never be able to fly out there."

"Got it covered!" Zink walked past them with both of her arms piled high with what seemed to be junk.

"But I didn't give you Area 51's blueprints! How do you-" Dib began, but wasn't able to finish.

Zink stopped and looked at him like he was an idiot. "And where the HECK do you think that they got those blueprints in the FIRST PLACE!?" With that she walked off, dragging Aneera with her with a single spider leg.

"Ah! Where are you taking me?" she asked, looking up as she was sliding across the floor on her butt.

"To fit you! I need to know how big you are!" Zink snapped, hurrying along to the labs.

* * *

"OW! Careful!"

Aneera was standing, on all fours, on top of a table while holographic images of her armor and suit floated about above the table. Every now and then Zink would try something on her or take measurements or something of the sort.

"Now sit down and suck in as much air as you can." Zink ordered, getting her breast plate from off the floor next to her.

Aneera rolled her eyes and did as she was told, holding still as Zink fitted the piece of armor onto Aneera's body, looking it over closely. As she waited she began to flick her tail back and forth, already bored out of her mind.

"Well? How does it feel?" Zink asked, looking up expectantly.

"Fine I guess."

"Good, now let out the air." Zink observed her friend and held the armor still. When she was done Zink asked her again.

Aneera rolled her eyes again. "It feels fine! Are we almost done? I'm itchy!" She lifted her left foot and started to scratch her side. "I think Gir got fleas again!"

"Wow, how sad." With a huff Zink removed the piece of armor and picked up another, not bothering to ask if it fit or not, she figured not asking would make the process go faster.

After a while Aneera had laid down and was almost asleep when something occurred to her. "Hey, I thought you were a weapons specialist."

"I am." Zink replied. "Weapons should be an extension of your body. Your battle suit is kind of like that, except you are the weapon and I'm just protecting it. At least, that's how _I_ see it."

Aneera contemplated the thought and decided that she wouldn't argue it any further. She watched Zink go to the back of the room to retrieve something. "What's that?"

Zink only smiled and brought back what seemed to be four gloves of some sort. "They go on your... feet. Here," Zink reached down and picked up her front right paw and fitted it with the corresponding glove. "See?"

Aneera picked up her paw and examined the thing. "It has metal claws."

"They're made of adamantium, an indestructible metal." Zink said with utter pride, grinning.

"Hey, isn't that the stuff from-" Aneera could have sworn she'd heard of it before.

"Hollywood movies? Not really, it does exist." Zink had recalled watching a few movies where a man had claws made of adamantium, that's where she'd gotten the idea for Aneera's gloves. "Alright, no more talking, time to get busy!"

* * *

For the next few hours Zink finished taking measurements and began to mold her armor/battle suit. It took so long because there was just so much of it, Zink wondered if they would have to work into the night but when she presented the idea to Aneera she screamed in agony, wanting nothing more than to stop this madness and go to bed.

"Well, I think we're done!" exclaimed Zink happily, the blueprints on the table moving into a small digital box that was labeled 'Useful Pieces', everything else vanished.

"Really!? FINALLY!" Aneera hopped off the table and yawned, stretching out her arms and legs, thankful to be rid of her scaly skin.

Zink shut off the lights and the two made their way back upstairs.

"So when do you think this'll all be done?" Aneera peered down at the shorter Irken standing next to her.

Zink thought for a moment, then said, "I don't really know, a few days I'd guess but it's a high tech suit, it may take some time to finish it."

Aneera didn't say anymore and the two stayed quiet for the rest of the ride, not eager to start up another conversation.

When the lift stopped Aneera stepped out, Zink was going to bed so she waved and said good night before departing, riding the lift farther up to where her ship was.

Aneera trudged down the hallway and entered the living room, where most everyone was congregated. She looked at the sight before her and internally laughed.

Gaz and Tak were quietly whispering amongst themselves, occasionally giggling or snickering at the other's comments, though Gaz never quit playing her game.

Gir had brought down one of his pillows from upstairs and set it on the coffee table, curling upon said piece of furniture with his right thumb in his mouth and a rubber piggy being quietly suffocated by Gir's other arm.

Dib was laying upside down on one of the chairs, his feet over the back and his head hanging over the edge of the seat. One arm was lying on the ground while the other rested across his stomach. His glasses had nearly fallen off and now laid askew on his face, which was a bright cherry red from entirely too much blood.

Zim was on the couch, or more like halfway on he couch. Everything from his waist up was hanging over the arm while one leg was stretched out and the other was on the floor. Both of his arms were dangling over the edge and every now and then the foot on the ground would push against the floor and then slip out from under him.

Noah was laying on his belly, face first into a pillow that Gir had brought down for him. His hands were by his sides, palms up and by the looks of the wet spot on the pillow he was drooling.

_Ah, family, you can't help but love them._Aneera walked over to the end of the couch that wasn't occupied and curled up, quickly falling asleep.

* * *

Skoodge crept silently down the hall, keeping a close eye on where Tallest Red had disappeared into the wall. He wasn't sure where he'd gone, but he could faintly see that one area of the wall was discolored, slightly darker. He could also hear noises coming from inside, like it was a room, Skoodge had though that the rounded protrusion of the wall was for wires, but it was another room.

It wasn't before long that a loud shriek came from inside and Red stumbled out with one arm around his midsection, he was in obvious pain as his face was contorted in discomfort.

Two guards came from around the other side of the rounded wall and gently held onto him, then lead him away towards the Med Bay.

Skoodge saw that the door was closing, so he ran for it. If he were just a bit slimmer he probably wouldn't have ended up fighting the door while he was being squeezed by it and the wall. He was finally able to push himself through and entered the room, gazing awe struck at who was inside.

Bryan was standing in the middle with chains around his wrists and ankles, fresh blood on the floor. "Oh great." he said. "Are you here to preach to me too?"

Skoodge quickly collected himself and muttered a short 'no' before he looked too stupid.

"Good! I don't know how you guys put up with that jerk." Bryan glared evily at where the entrance was, glad to be rid of the slightly Taller figure that, in his opinion, was not fit to be called an Irken.

"Uh, so... what happened?" Skoodge busied himself with twiddling his thumbs.

The other had began to flick the blood off his claws. "I scratched him." he replied nonchalantly, getting annoyed that he was having difficulties.

"Oh... So what did you do? To get in here I mean." Skoodge was contemplating whether he should help him or leave him.

"Nothing! I was minding my own business! Then I had four soldiers shooting at me! I had done nothing! At all! And he sends his goons after me! Tch, jerk." He kicked angrily at the ground, then sat and pouted.

Skoodge decided to ask another question. "Where were you." Maybe he was someplace he didn't know he shouldn't be?

"Earth, why?" Bryan didn't see why it was so important, it was inhabited by feeble Humans.

"Oh. Well no wonder, he probably didn't want you to find Z-." Skoodge stopped when he heard footsteps, then realized that if he was going to save him he'd better do it now. "Come on." He quickly undid the chains and led the Irken out of the room.

* * *

"The moon? You want me to send all of my men to the MOON!? Have you lost your mind!?"

"No, Dib did." Zim looked at Tiz with a bit of hope. "But think about it! It's close by, in the Milky way, I could easily get the Humans there and they could set up a base and we'll just talk each other through what's going on."

Tiz shook his head. "Yeah it's close, too close! What happens if something goes stray and hits Earth?"

"Can't you send send a few people over to surround the rock and _hit_anything that misses?" Zim knew that Tiz had many pilot friends, and he'd do it himself but he had to deal with Red.

Tiz looked away and sighed, then smiled. "You certainly have a way of persuading people don't you?"

"Um, sure?" Zim didn't bribe him with anything or give him the guilt trip, was he just that good?

"When we come down I'll have a few pilots tag along alright? If I can get any, that is." Of course there were many Irkens opposed to Tallest Red, but Tiz didn't know if any of his friends or comrades were in the group, he'd just have to find out.

Zim smiled and the two said their goodbyes. Then he left and decided to get something to eat, he hadn't had any breakfast that morning, his stomach was in pain from the way he'd slept on it the previous night.

As he began to open cabinets he realised that they were running low on a few things, like doughnuts and soda. Zim grumbled to himself and closed the cupboard, maybe there would be something in the fridge.

"What happened to all the food!?" There wasn't much in the fridge besides a few carrots, some lemon juice, a big bundle of potatoes (that shouldn't even be _in_the fridge), the skeleton of a large turkey that had been left on the plate with all of the little greens and pretty decorations, a tub of mayonnaise, a brand new bottle of some sort of liquor and.. what was this? "PIE!"

Zim fished around in a nearby drawer for a fork, then began to feast on the last piece of pie in the house. He sat down at the table and had piled a large piece on his fork, then just as he was about to pop it in his mouth there was a yelp.

"GAH! What're you doing!? UNHAND THAT PIE!" Zink scurried into the kitchen and lunged for Zim's fork, knocking it out of his hand.

"Hey! What'd you do that for!?" He glared at her as she picked up his plate and put it gently back into the fridge, then carefully disposed of the discarded piece on the floor.

She whirled around and threw her hands up in the air. "I was using that for chemical experimentation!"

Zim blankly looked down at her, then said. "Why would you do that on pie!? What, you couldn't use a potato!?"

"I _was_going to use that turkey but big fat and scaly had to go and eat it!" Zink looked a bit offended at the mention of the loss of that wonderful specimen.

"She's gotta eat too! Speaking of eating, what am _I_ supposed to eat!?" Sometimes he found it extremely inconvenient that his diet was so limited with Earth foods.

Zink turned around and walked out of the kitchen yelling, "I don't know! But if I catch you with my pie again you'll be sorry!"

Zim rolled his eyes and scoffed at her. "What're you gonna do, kill me?"

"No!"-she thurned and folded her arms-"But that pie might!"

Zim looked skeptically at the fridge, then slowly slid out of the seat and backed out of the kitchen, glaring at the fridge. Then he turned and sighed, he was so hungry, and his belly fully agreed with him. Groaning, he walked over to the chair and sat down, sinking down into the cushion, turning his gaze to the window.

"What's wrong with you?" Dib walked in with an apple in his hand, chewing on his previous bite of... _food_.

Zim stared at the apple and moaned again, if only it wouldn't be so painful he might have made himself force one down, but it would sting his throat so bad, they use pesticides on those things. "I'm hungry."

Dib nodded and held the apple up to his mouth about to take a bite, when it was snatched out of his hand. He looked down at his hand in surprise, didn't there used to be an apple in that hand, or was it the other hand? He held up his other hand but still no apple, then he looked over at Zim and was about to ask if he'd seen his apple when he saw that it was Zim that had it!

Zim took a bite and forced himself to swallow it, instantly regretting it. The juices burned like acid as it trickled down his throat, causing it to grow sore and inflamed. "AGK!" He hissed, then chucked the apple at Dib's head, for once thankful that it was so large and easy to hit.

"Ow!" Dib rubbed his head and picked up his apple, then walked away while Zim screamed at him about how horrible Earth foods were.

* * *

Zim had decided to stay away from everyone else, there was no telling what they could be eating! He was still so hungry, and the strange noises that his squeedlyspooch was making was not helping.

"Fooooood." he moaned, too weak to hold up his head anymore. He then heard the door open, then close soon after.

"Um, are you okay?" Aneera walked over and sat on the bed next to him, poking his arm to get his attention.

He lazily turned his head in her direction. "No, I think my blood sugar is too low, I haven't eaten since yesterday."

"Oh good, I thought you were sick. Well how come you haven't eaten?" she asked, laying down so he didn't have to strain so much to look at her.

Zim groaned again and pulled a pillow up and over his head. "There's nothing _to_ eat!" he yelled.

"Oh" Aneera paused for a second, then thought of something. "Should we send Gir out to get something?"

Zim sat up and yanked the pillow off his head. "If we sent him out there's no telling when he'd be back! I'd probably starve before he actually got anything! AND there's a piece of pie sitting in the fridge that I can't have!"

"Why not?"

"Because Zink is using it for chemical experimentation. She said it'd probably kill me if she didn't." Zim then laid his head back down, getting dizzy from using such a loud voice.

Aneera thought to herself again, she couldn't really think of anyplace else they would keep food. In the middle of a thought Gir came bursting into the room and ran over to the bed, jumping into her lap.

"HI!" Gir waved and pulled something out of his head, it was a twinkie.

Zim gazed at the delicious morsel in his servant's hand, oh how he would love to just take it, look at it, _eat it_. "Um..."

"I went shopping!" Gir exclaimed, sticking his tongue out. He then extended the twinkie filled hand out towards Zim. "Here ya go!"

Zim's eyes went wide with joy as he leaned in and ate the whole thing in one bite, smiling with pure joy. "Food!" he said, the inside of his mouth a rich cream color. "Thank you!"

Gir squealed with joy and took another one out of his head, handing it to Zim before leaving.

Zim happily took the twinkie out of Gir's hand and greedily swallowed the one in his mouth so he could start the one in his hand. He watched as Gir skipped through doorway and ran screaming down the stairs, announcing that he had gone shopping.

"Better?" Aneera asked, stealing a corner of cake off the twinkie, she hadn't had a twinkie in years. "Mmmm, twinkie."

The two laid down for a while, both drifting in and out of sleep and consciousness, until the line between the two was so blurred it was hard to distinguish which was which.

Soon the the sky outside began to turn orange and purple and the water was mirroring the sky and was no longer blue. The sun seemed brighter in the late evening than during the day as it was orange instead of yellow. The light from outside pooled into the room and the walls turned from white to a deep mix of pink and orange.

Zim rolled over and opened his eyes, forcing himself to sit up and wake up.

"Are we still dreaming?" Aneera whispered, not wanting to get up just yet.

"No. We should get up, it's getting late." Zim stood up and stretched, looking out the window, the sun was low and was getting close to the horizon, they'd slept for quite a while.

Aneera decided that maybe she should get up, so she did and opened the bedroom door, looking down into the living room, but there was nobody there. "Where is everybody?"

Zim turned his head and walked over, standing beside her. There wasn't anybody in the living room, the kitchen was empty too, and as far as he could tell nobody was upstairs with them. "I don't know. Let's go look."

The two walked silently down the hall and stairs, stopping to look around, the place was deserted. They made their way through the rest of the house but there just wasn't anybody inside.

"Hey!" Gir ran in through the front door with a camera in one hand, smiling. "We's outside! Da big orange ball is gonna go bye byes!"

"All of you guys are outside?" Zim peered behind the robot and through the front door but didn't see anything but trees and the thick shrubbery.

Gir nodded his head vigorously, then disappeared into the other room, then returned with a soda. "Come on! Let's go watch!"

The small group headed outside and walked down the worn path that went through the most spacious areas between the trees as they were so dense. It was a bit dark since the sun was low and not much light got through the tree tops anyways, so it was eerie and dim for a while. They walked in silence out towards the edge of the island and the water.

"There it is!" Gir skipped happily through a small opening between two large trees and onto the white sand.

Zim had to cover his eyes and squint since the sun was so bright and the reflection of it on the water wasn't helping. Though it was a sight to see, the sunset was about the only thing he really liked about Earth, though the sunsets on Irk were much prettier because they had two suns.

"Wow." Aneera picked up a handful of sand and let it fall through her fingers, it was finer than powder.

Ara looked back and watched the little robot lead the way for the Irkens, smiling. "Hey guys! You finally got up?"

Zim grunted and sat down next to him, removing his hand. He looked around and saw that off in the distance was a few of Ara's soldiers, they were making a sand castle, but it didn't compare to the fortress that Gaz and Tak had constructed, sitting only a few feet to the left and behind him.

Soon everyone was sitting in a circle, waiting for the sunset, and talking about all sorts of different things. Eventually they started talking about what would have happened if by some strange turn of events the Earth had been conquered by Zim.

"And I would have a giant fortress made entirely of doughnuts! And Everyone would have to wear great big cupcake hats! And dresses!" Zim started laughing as he imagined the Humans in such odd attire.

"Oh sure! And you'd keep me as your pet huh?" Dib figured that he'd be spared since he put up such a good fight.

Zim smiled evilly. "Yes I would! And you'd wear a doughnut for a collar! And you would have to bark like a dog!" Zim laughed again, clutching his stomach.

Everyone was laughing now at Dib, then they began to volunteer bizzar ideas such as; "You should take him on walks so people can tell you how adorable he is!", "You should make him walk like a dog too!" and of course, "He should have a little dog house with a sign that said 'Dibby' on it!"

By this time Gaz was laying in the sand and laughing so hard she was having trouble breathing.

Dib, however, was _not_happy. "OKAY! I get it! I'll be his humiliating DOG! Ha ha!"

"Aw, we're just having fun!" Aneera felt bad because she had laughed too, but she wasn't laughing at him, she was laughing with him... or rather _without_ him.

"Okay guys, shut up! The sun is setting! LOOK!" Zink pointed her finger at the sun just as the bottom touched the water.

The sky behind them was a dark purple that faded into black, but in front of them it was a vibrant violet and pink that dropped behind the sun. The sun itself was a mix of bright orange and a deep red, getting more red as it sank in the sky. The clouds over their heads turned to a pale pink color on one side and a pale yellow on the other.

Though the moment only lasted for about a minute before the sun was gone completely and the sky was getting darker as a few stars came out.

After seeing this Zim really hoped that they'd win.

* * *

Aneera: Cool, another chapter done! YAY!

Zim: I'm still hungry!

Aneera: Then go eat a cupcake or something!

Zim: But... you ate the last cupcake.

Aneera: Oh yeah...

Zim: -sniffle-

Aneera: Well review! PLEASE! Or you'll have to watch Zim SUFFER!!!! *holds up cupcake* WUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

Zim: GASP! NNNOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!


	29. Camping

"So uh, we leave now?" Zink stood up and looked at the rest of the group, the sun must have set ten minutes ago and they were still sitting in the sand.

Ara looked up at her and frowned. "Why? Can't we stay for a little while longer?"

"But were sitting in sand. Ten feet from water. Salt water!" Zink flung her arms in the air, trying to make a point.

"Oh com on!" Dib grabbed the hem of her uniform and pulled her back down. "Let's camp out here for the night!" Dib couldn't imagine that Irkens knew what camping was.

Zim groaned and stuck his tongue out, he didn't want to camp outside, not when death was merely ten feet away! "No, I don't want to!" he whined, glaring at the moon that was now more visible since the sun had gone down.

"Oh why not? I bet you'd never even been camping before!" Dib crossed his arms and smirked.

Zim turned towards him and glared some more. "No! And I don't want to!"

Aneera sat up and dusted the sand off her uniform, then turned to the two boys. "Why don't we vote?" She wouldn't have normally suggested this but there were more non-Irkens than Irkens that would agree to stay the night.

"I vote we leave!" Zink stood up and began to slowly walk away, figuring that they'd leave, plus she didn't want to stay and listen to the fight that would surely break out very soon.

"Me too!" Zim yelled unnecessarily, then he laid back down and put his arms over his eyes.

Dib pouted and folded his arms. "Well I want to stay." Then he turned back to Gaz, who was playing in the sand. "Gaz, you wanna stay?" She looked up, glanced around, nodded and went back to drawing meaningless figures in the sand.

"Hey, if we end up staying can we move farther away from the acid?" Tak picked up Gir and moved him so she could look at the others. She heard a 'sure' from who she didn't know or care. "I kind of want to stay too."

Zim sat up and gawked at her. "You want to stay?" He received a nod, then groaned and scowled at the water. "Oh shut up."

"YAY! I wanna stay too! And I'll bring piggy!" Gir jumped up and ran towards the house, getting a command from Zim to bring food. The robot squealed again and ran faster.

"Alright, well I say we stay." Aneera drew another tally mark in the sand, she had ran out of fingers a while ago. Once she had a nice straight line she poked the side of Noah's face that was nestled snugly in her lap. "Would you like to stay?"

Noah opened one eye and yawned, blinked, then closed his eyes again. "Sure, as long as I don't have to move."

"Not until I have to get up." She smiled and added another tally, pleased that they would be staying.

Kasandra looked up from whatever it was that she had been doing and asked, "Does it really matter what our vote is?"

Aneera looked back down, it was six to two and in favor of staying. "No."

Zim sighed and sat up again, yawning himself. "Zink! We stay! Get your butt back here!" He heard a loud groan and then a thump as she stomped her foot. He smirked when she resumed her spot next to him, scowling. "Hey, if I have to stay and suffer then so do you!"

"Shut up." she hissed, swatting at him with her claws hoping to hit him in the face.

It wasn't long before Gir came running back with so much stuff his face was unable to be seen. "I got blankies! And FOOD!" He pranced over to where he was sure the middle of the group was, then unloaded his arms and smiled.

Anybody that any sense leaped up and grabbed a blanket, refusing to sleep in the sand. Unfortunately Gir hadn't brought enough and three unlucky Irkens were left without something to sleep on. These fortunate people were Zim, Aneera and poor Noah.

"Oh no! I am NOT sleeping on the sand!" Zim announced, glaring at where the load of blankets used to have been.

Dib smiled and began to unfold his blanket. "Oh well, you snooze you lose!" Dib began to laugh as he continued to unfold the massive piece of fabric. When he was almost done he thought he heard something inside, then leaned in closer to listen.

"SQUEAK!" Minimoose flew out from underneath the blanket.

"AH!" Dib fell backwards and breathed hard for a moment before he realized that it was just another one of Zim's dumb robots.

Said alien was laughing as he pet Minimoose on his head. He smirked when he saw Dib glaring at him, then said, "Karma Dib, karma."

"Yeah well..." Dib trailed off and laid down, grumbling to himself.

"Don't we need a fire or something?" Tak walked up and sat herself down as far away form Aneera as possible but close enough to Zim as she could get.

Aneera looked at her, utterly shocked. "Wow, and here I thought you were retarded. I guess you're just stupid." She smiled sweetly at the other then waved her hand dismissively towards Tak. "Since you brought up the wonderful idea why don't you go get us some fire wood?"

Tak narrowed her eyes and hissed quietly. "You aren't the boss of me."

"Okay girls, please don't do this." Zim put a hand over Tak's mouth and gently nudged her to leave and do as she was asked.

Tak stood and turned to leave while uttering inaudible but snide remarks under her breath, leaving before she began screaming obscene and foul words towards the other.

Kasandra and Ara made their way closer to the others and helped form the circle that would be around the fire, once Tak got wood anyway. After they settled down Kassie scooted closer to Aneera.

"You two don't like each other very much do you?" she asked, glancing up at the one she had addressed.

Aneera tore her eyes away from Tak and looked down at Kassie. "No, we don't." She then averted her eyes back to Tak just as she disappeared behind the trees.

"Why not?" Kasandra asked, persistane to understand why the two hated each other so.

"She always thought she was better than me. It just got on my nerves." Aneera looked away and tried to focus on something else.

Zim looked up and smiled. "I always thought you two hated each other because of me!" Zim had heard of stories from Zink about how Tak would say mean things about Zim leaving her and not wanting her anymore while Aneera was on the Massive.

Aneera shrugged, then picked up Noah's head, doing her best to get up without waking him. Once she was able to stand she gently laid him back down and walked towards the water.

"Where are you going?" Gaz, who had otherwise been silent, asked as she saw Aneera leave out of the corner of her eye.

"Fishing. I'm hungry. Anybody want fish?" She turned back around and saw four hands up. "Okay." She turned around again and walked away, flaring her wings as she morphed, then disappeared into the black water.

As she left from his view Aranarth looked away and stared at Zim, puzzled. He waited until the Irken noticed and mouthed a 'what' before he asked. "How do you get past the whole giant lizard thing? I mean she's a sweet girl and all but..." He made a face and looked away.

Zim scowled at him and picked up a pillow that Gir had brought, then threw it as hard as he could at the Elf across from him. He continued to glare harshly at him until he sat back up, being knocked over by said pillow, and crossed his arms.

"What'd I say?" He looked around and sank back, scooting away from Zim.

"She's not a giant lizard!" Zim said, unfolding his arms and laying back down.

"Yes she is." Dib said, not realising that Zim wasn't happy.

"She's different!" Zim yelled, picking up a pillow and throwing it at Dib with great force, knocking him over too. "You guys are mean." he announced with a huff.

The group was silent until Tak got back with an armful of wood. "Here." she said, dropping it in a pile within the circle of people. She then walked back to her blanket and sat facing away from everyone else.

Everyone sat up and stared at the pile of sticks and twigs.

"Okay. Um, how do we start the fire?" Gaz asked, noticing that Aneera wasn't there to do it for them and nobody in their right mind would sit down and rub two sticks together all night.

"I don't know." Dib said, growing cold.

* * *

"And you're _sure_you're not lost?" Bryan asked, peeking around the corner. The hallway was busy and little Irkens were bustling all over the place.

Skoodge looked up and nodded, keeping himself from talking so that they wouldn't draw any unwanted attention to themselves.

Bryan sighed and inspected the hall a little more closely, trying to find a way to get past everyone but still staying practically unseen. This particular hall was so busy due to the many important rooms such as the kitchen, the main entryways to both storage pods that were on the side of the Massive and so on. There was also a giant holographic video screen that displayed new and gossip along with various jobs and tasks for people with nothing to do.

Skoodge suddenly got himself an idea. "Hey, how fast can you run?"

"Pretty fast, why?"

Skoodge looked down at the other end of the hallway and tried to measure out the distance, it had to be at least two hundred yards. "How long would it take you to run from here to all the way over there?" Skoodge pointed towards the end of the hall.

"Hmm, a few seconds maybe?" Bryan figure that maybe between fifteen, twenty seconds.

Skoodge smiled to himself. "Good, because I have an idea."

* * *

"I'm hungry!" Dib whined, gazing hopefully out to the water. "Are we gonna eat soon?"

There was a chorus of protesting stomachs and the occasional squeedlyspooch, all begging for food.

Zim swiftly sat up, realizing something. "Hey wait a minute. We eat sugar, Gir brought junk food, we don't have to wait!" Zim then snatched Gir up from the ground and flung his head open, eager to find the twinkies. Once he had a handful he tossed Gir aside and smiled. He hand one to Zink, set one down for himself then threw one at Tak, who didn't seem to be paying any attention at all but swiftly reached her hand out and caught it.

Gaz glared at Zim with hate. "If I didn't consider you family you'd be in a world of pain and MISERY!"

"Hey! I'm family and you still beat me up!" Dib said, not believing what he was hearing.

"But you're my annoying brother. Plus you're a wimp." She smirked at him and opened one glinting amber eye, waited till she saw his fear, then squinted again.

Dib made a face at her as soon as he was sure she wasn't looking. "I'm not a wimp." He turned to Zim. "Am I a wimp?"

Zim smiled. "Yeah, you're a wimp! But that's okay, we love you anyway."

"I'm touched." Dib frowned and glanced back towards the water, hungry for sushi. That's when he saw Aneera, trudging through the water. "Hey look, FOOD!"

Aneera backed towards the camp, a huge tail fin in her mouth. She was dragging a huge figure through the shallow water by it's tail, the huge bulky body sliding in the sand. Once she had the animal close enough to the camp she let go of the tail and backed away form her kill.

"It's a SHARK!" Kassie stood up and stared at it.

"Sorry, guys. I tried to get fish but this guy was in my way so I just brought him in instead. That okay with you?" Aneera sat down and smiled, her fangs poking out from her top lip.

Nobody said anything for quite a few seconds, the shark was a great white and had to be twice as big as Aneera was. It had three rows of razors for teeth, a massive and muscular body, it was swift in the water and it had a bite so powerful it was a wonder she wasn't missing any limbs.

"Um, yeah, I'll eat shark." Gaz stood up and walked over to it, then opened it's large mouth to expose it's deadly teeth. One by one she yanked it's teeth out and kept a pile of one she wanted to keep.

Aneera decided that while everyone was quiet she'd gut the shark and put edible pieces in a pile for cooking later. She trotted over to the beast and rolled it on it's side, then cut it's belly open. It's stomach and intestines fell out with a horrible squishing noise and blood began to pool around the organs. She happened to notice that it's stomach was bulging, so she sliced it open and about four or five salmon fell out. "Hey! Look, fish!"

"Ew! They've already been eaten!" Dib covered his mouth when he was done and his cheeks paled in disgust.

Aneera shrugged her shoulders and threw them back into the water, they were still alive and hadn't been digested yet. Then she continued to pull out the shark's organs and put them in a pile.

Everyone watched, absolutely repulsed at what they were witnessing. At one point Ara looked back at Zim and motioned at what she was doing. Zim only looked back with the same want to puke his own guts out.

The whole charade went on for about twenty minutes, the only good thing that came out of it was the food and the fact that Noah was still asleep. Other than that it was pretty horrid and unpleasant to watch.

Dib actually became so nauseated at one point he passed out, his whole face almost green.

"Alright guys," Aneera turned around and looked at everyone. "I'm done." Not bothering to say anything more she turned away and went back to the water, cleaning off her claws and snout. Once she was done she went back and sat in front of the pile of sticks "Um, where's the fire?"

"We waited for you." Gaz said, not mentioning that they intended her to light the fire for them.

Aneera didn't need to be told, nobody made a move to do it themselves. So she leaned forward and picked up a stick in her mouth, then let a short jet of flame out of her throat, coating the small stick with fire. She placed it back on the pile and let the fire spread to the other sticks.

For a while she waited, watching at the flames licked at each other and make the thin pieces of wood crack under the heat. Once the fire had spread to almost every stick she picked up one and set the end of it on fire, then stuck it firmly in the ground so that if the fire went out they'd be able to relight it on their own. After that she stood up and slowly walked away, leaving large prints in the sand.

Not very many people noticed that she'd left, only Zim and Tak had caught her. Tak didn't really care though, she didn't even watch as the dragon left, but Zim cared, so he followed her, but from a distance.

She stopped about fifty feet from the small camp and sat herself down, eager to be alone for a while. As soon as her head touched the sand she knew she was being watched, she could smell him. But she made no move to acknowledge him or even show that she was aware of his presence.

Soon Zim thought that she'd fallen asleep so he quietly walked over and sat down next to where her head was, stroking the fur that ran from her head to halfway down her tail. He remained quiet and didn't do anything to 'wake' or disturb her, but after a while he got the hint that she wasn't asleep anymore.

"You said I was different, why?"

Zim looked down and momentarily stopped petting her. "Because you are."

She snorted and a ring of smoke floated out of her nose. "I'm not different, I'm a monster." She clawed at the sand and clenched her jaws shut.

Zim was shocked at what she'd said about herself, appaled even. "You are _not_ a monster." he said sternly. He waited for her to protest but he didn't get a reaction so, in a much gentler voice, he continued. "It's not your fault that your parents were-"

"That's a lie. They never were, I don't think I ever had any." She had heard the claim from Red and to her anything that he said was a lie. Sometimes she wondered if he even knew how to tell the truth.

"It can't be, I saw them, both of them. I shut the door and..." He trailed off and eventually stopped talking.

Aneera shook her head in his lap. "It doesn't make any sense, none of it does."

He was about to say something else but decided to change the subject a little. "Why are you upset?"

She flicked the tip of her tail and it made marks in the soft sand. "I'm not upset, I'm just curious. But I'm tired of people looking at me like that." She gestured over towards the others. "They look like they're afraid of me, even Gaz."

"You gutted a shark right in front of us. We saw it's guts and it was bleeding and then Gaz was pulling it's teeth out and you were ripping it to shreds! Yeah we're gonna be unnerved a little but it's nature, we'll deal with it." Zim smiled and relaxed when he felt better knowing that she wasn't upset as he had originally thought.

"Dib was unconscious for thirty minutes."

Zim sighed and laughed a little to himself. "Dib is just squeamish. I mean, the first time I hit him and he saw blood I thought he died when he passed out. He's _squeamish_."

Aneera did her best to laugh but in this form it was a task, she could never make it sound right. But at least this time she didn't sound as though she was choking. "Is he really that squeamish?"

"Oh yeah." He picked up her head and stood up, bringing her with him. "But I'm sure he's fine now."

The two continued to walk sluggishly back to where the fire was still burning, everyone huddled close together, except for Tak who sat alone. Zim found a spot and sat down, beckoning Aneera to join him. When she laid down and rested her head in his lap someone spoke up.

"So, how exactly are we supposed to cook this... shark?" Gaz raised her head and started to look around until her eyes finally rested on Aneera.

Said Dragon lifted her head as well and peered at Gaz with amusment. "Don't look at me, I already ate."

"Yeah, that was my turkey!" Zink murmured.

"Didn't have your name on it." Aneea snickered. "And if you guys want to eat tonight then you'll have to figure it out on your own. Besides, I'm sure you guys watch enough TV."

There was a loud sigh and Gaz stood up to hunt for something.

"Where're you going?" Dib asked, automatically standing too out of 'brotherly instinct'.

"To get a rock." Without saying another word Gaz departed and went to search. She had vanished through the thicket of trees within a minute and everyone continued to stare in her direction.

"A rock?"

* * *

"What are doing now?" Bryan and Skoodge were sitting on the floor while Skoodge was messing with a picture of Tallest Red.

"I'm altering the picture, then I'm gonna wirelessly transmit it to the News Board. When one person sees this they'll all flock to the screen, buying you enough time to pass behind them and make it to the docking station where I'm sure you'll have no problem getting off the ship." Skoodge explained, but he never took his eyes off of the picture that he was altering.

Bryan asked no more questions and just sat and waited, he figured that the little Irken knew what he was doing considering that he was actually a part of the Irken Empire as where Bryan and his family had abandoned it a long time ago.

After another ten minutes Skoodge began to giggle and make strange snorting noises once he finished the photo. Then he quickly sent it to the News Board so all could see, motioning for Bryan to get ready to run.

Then, "OH MY IRK! LOOK!" The hoard of people that were congregated in the hall flocked to where the view screen was, all bursting out in a fit of giggles that soon morphed into a chorus of laughter.

Skoodge shoved Bryan into the hallway and the Irken took off, getting a glimpse of the photo that took up at least half of the screen. _Oh my, he put Red in a... bikini! HA! Can't wait to see how he takes _that_ one!_

Bryan ran as fast as his legs would carry him, his trench coat trailing behind him. As he neared the end of the hall he passed by a door that said 'Confiscated Items' on it. He quickly stopped and dashed for the room, diving through the sliding Plexiglas doors.

The walls were lined with shelves upon shelves of just about anything and everything. There were also tables with large piles of assorted things, such as weapons, important documents, strange chemicals and so on. Bryan happened to spot his pair of blades on a table on the far end of the room, but he also noticed that two Irkens in white coats and goggles were staring at him while he was still on the floor.

"Uuhhh, I don't think you're supposed to be in here." said the one on the left, his voice a bit too high for what Bryan guessed was his age.

He stood up and dusted himself off, then took off for the opposite end of the room. He didn't look back to see if the two were pursuing him, he could hear their footsteps behind him.

"Stop! Intruder!" The other shouted, hoping to get a few soldiers in the room before the taller Irken got away with something.

Bryan approached the table where his swords were, snatched them up, skidded around the table and kicked it over. "Now, we can go about this in two ways. One, you let me go and I don't kill you. Or you can try and stop me and I'll horribly mutilate you." His face was so serious and calm at the same time the other Irkens just stared at him.

The three continued to stand where they were for quite some time before the sorter Irkens stepped to the side and let Bryan pass without giving him any grief.

He quickly jumped over the table and bolted for the door, disappearing before anyone else noticed.

* * *

"Oooohhhhhh, now I get what the rock is for!" Dib smiled and watched as Gaz set up a make shift stove that consisted of a few extra sticks and the rock, which she would cook the edible meat on.

She glanced up at her brother and gave him a "No duh" kind of look, then set the rock on top of the sticks that were sitting over the fire. Once they caught on fire then the rock would heat, thus cooking the meat.

Aneera lifted her head and perked her ears up. "Wow, I'm impressed Gaz."

Gaz looked over and smiled, then looked back at the fire and frowned again. When she was happy with her work she stood up and went over to her blanket. "Dib, I hope you're paying attention, because someday I'm kicking you out of the house." she said matter-of-factly, showing no emotion on her face as she was utterly serious.

Zim had to laugh at the two, they were so funny. "It's okay Dib, you can come live with us!"

"Thanks Zim, I knew I could count on you." Dib smiled and was about to lay down when Zim spoke up again.

"Yeah, at least we'll give you a little dog house to stay in, that's more than Gaz can say I'm sure." Zim stifled a laugh, but soon burst into a quiet fit of giggles, as did most everyone else.

Dib looked at Zim and glared. "Yeah Zim, I just knew I could count on you!" He then turned around and faced away from the group that was still snickering, but he knew it was all in good sport.

Tak looked over and watched Dib remove his glasses and set them aside where he hoped they'd be safe and wouldn't get trampled on. Then he closed his eyes and rested his head on his arms, waiting until dinner was done cooking.

For a while Tak wanted to say something, but she couldn't think of what to tell the boy. She knew how he felt, even though she knew that they weren't laughing at him but rather with him, which was allot more than she could have ever said for herself. "They do this to you a lot don't they?" she asked.

Dib looked over and was surprised that Tak would talk to him. He thought about it and chose his words with care. "Yeah, but it's not like they're really making fun of me, I've always been the 'source of entertainment'."

"You don't mind when they laugh?" Tak was appalled with herself that she was making small talk with the Human, but it's not like anyone else wanted to talk to her.

"Not really," he said. "I know that they're laughing with me rather than at me."

Tak cocked her head to one side and looked at him more fully. "But you are not laughing." She understood the expression but if Dib wasn't laughing then it shouldn't be used, at least, that's what she thought.

Dib couldn't help but smile, she was right. "No, you're right, I'm not. I guess they just do it so much that It's not really that funny to me anymore." After that Dib turned his head and refused to speak further.

It was then that Tak got a good whiff of his emotions, he was upset. She didn't know why but she was a bit put off by the way the others were treating him, even if he was Human and she wasn't really supposed to care. Tak turned around and glared at Zim, waiting for him to notice. When he did she said, "You guys hurt his feelings."

"No we didn't." Zim insisted, then he smelled it too. "Did we?" He turned around and looked at Dib, and his face fell, they had hurt his feelings. "Dib, are you okay."

"I'm fine." he replied, but didn't turn to look at any of them.

Aneera lifted her head, she too could smell his sadness. She stood up and walked over to him, then laid back down, licking at the side of his face.

Dib's head shot up, he looked absolutely stunned that she would even do such a thing! "Um, did you just lick my face?"

"Yes I did, and for the record, I didn't laugh." She said quietly, then got comfortable next to him and closed her eyes.

Everyone suddenly felt a little guilty about laughing, even if it wasn't to be mean. Even Zim felt bad, he'd made jokes about Dib a lot and when they were still in school Dib would laugh too, he liked it that way. Now Dib seemed offended and Zim didn't know why.

"Dib," Zim said, scooting over to the boy. "I'm sorry. You used to laugh with me, what's the matter?"

Dib didn't say anything, he just laid there until Gaz shouted that the food was ready, and even then he didn't say anything.

Gaz passed around a thick chunk of the shark to everyone who hadn't eaten and they all kept quiet while they ate, not wanting to say anything else that would offend Dib or possibly somebody else.

But after a while when everyone was almost done something happened.

Aneera had already eaten and she just sat down next to Zim and Noah while everyone else ate, but something tickled her right paw. She looked down and paled, there was a very large spider crawling across her hand. Screaming bloody murder she jumped to her feet and morphed back to Irken, thus flinging the spider through the air.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at her. Nobody moved for about ten seconds, it seemed as though the entire universe had stopped at her cry of terror.

Ara was the first to speak. "Um, what just happened?"

Aneera, who was still standing on one foot in a cringing position, looked at him, then pointed over to where the spider had landed.

Dib looked over and picked up the spider in his hand, looking at it curiously.

"EW! Don't touch it! THAT'S GROSS!" Aneera shrieked, visibly shuddering. She hated spiders with such a passion, but she was utterly terrified of them, just the way they moved was enough to make her sick.

"It's just a spider, he's not hurting anybody." Noah said, not understanding why his mother, half a fire breathing lizard, would be so frightened by something as small and harmless as a spider.

After that everyone, save for Dib, began to laugh. At first Aneera wanted to yell at them that it wasn't funny, but she could see that in their position it would be amusing. Plus, maybe it would make Dib feel better.

"Yeah okay, I'm afraid of spiders." She smiled and sat back down, watching as Dib stood up to put the spider somewhere safe. When he returned she spoke up again. "See Dib? Everyone has to laugh at themselves sometimes."

He smiled and nodded his head, not feeling quite so upset anymore.

"I'm tired." Kasandra announced, walking over to her blanket and laying down. Then there were murmurs of the same thing and the rest began to retreat to their make shift beds for the night.

When everyone was situated Zim and Noah looked around, they had nothing to sleep on.

Aneera noticed and traded her Irken form for scales once again, laying on her side in the sand. She motioned with a paw for the other two to curl up next to her where it was warm. When they did she lifted her right wing and laid it over top of them just to make sure that they were safe in case it rained.

* * *

Red sat in his chair that was located in the main control room, looking absent mindedly over the heads of the ComTechs and out into the bleakness of space. His mind wondered from thought to thought, none of them being very coherent or organized, when he began to think of one thing it reminded him of something else and so on.

Lost in thought, he failed to notice as Tik began to tug on in gauntlets, make grunting noises in frustration. It wasn't until his name was screamed that he finally came to and looked down, pulling his arm away. "What!?"

Tik gulped and put his hands behind his back. "The uh, prisoner. He sort of... escaped." Tik closed his eyes and felt Red grab the front of his uniform, hauling him up into the air.

"What do you mean he escaped?" Red hissed, shaking Tik so that he'd look at him.

"Well Sir, I went to check on him and he wasn't in the room. I don't see how he could've gotten out though." Tik shuddered and cringed as Red glared daggers at him.

"But he did! WHERE IS HE!?" Red yelled, dropping Tik onto the floor with a thud. Then he turned to one of the ComTechs and yelled some more. "FIND HIM!"

The row of workers began typing in comands, doing their best to locate him. Suddenly, "He's stolen a Battle Cruiser!"

Red whipped around and pressed his face up against the glass, looking for a ship that would come from around the right. "ARGH! Where is he going!? Hail him! Somebody figure out where he's going!"

One of the ComTechs began to type furiously into his computer, sending a signal to the ship. After a moment the glass window became the view screen.

"Hi! I trust that my escape has upset you, yes?" Bryan smiled, showing off his pearly white teeth.

Red snarled and clenched his hands, one eye twitching in hatred. "How did you get out?" he asked through his clenched teeth.

Bryan only laughed and waved a hand. "You can't hold me! No one can!"

Red calmed himself and sighed, asking, "Where are you going?"

"Home. I'm sick of dealing with you, you annoy me." Bryan stuck his tongue out and ended the transmission, making Red's fury rise again.

"Make sure that he stays away from Earth." With that Red exited the room and went to get something to eat, sugar usually helped calm his nerves and relaxed him a little.

On his way out he happened to pass by Purple, noticing a small cube in his hand. "Where're you going?" Red asked, crossing his arms.

"Wouldn't you like to know!" Purple said nothing more as he passed by Red and rounded the corner into the next hall.

Red stood where he was and scowled in Purple's direction for a while before deciding that he wasn't worth his trouble and continued on to the food court where his doughnuts were waiting.

* * *

Purple made haste, he had to get to his Spittle Runner before anyone asked anymore questions. He entered the docking bay and walked down the rows and rows of different Irken ships, finally spotting his Runner parked next to Red's.

There were a few Irkens standing nearby but they didn't seem to notice their Tallest only a few yards away, and for that Purple was thankful. They were engaged in what seemed to be a very intense conversation, gossip no doubt.

Purple decided to listen in and see what the latest news was, every now and then a good juicy story would circle around the Massive but Purple was always the last to know of it. He stood still and listened hard, but he only caught bits and pieces of the information. Soon the two Irkens bid each other farewell and went back to their posts. However, Purple had gotten enough info to know that whoever Red had captured was already loose and probably a ways away.

Smiling, he opened up his little Spittle Runner and hopped inside, tossing the little cube to the back with the rest of his belongings. Once he saw that everyone had cleared the docking station he closed his ship and wirelessly sent a signal to the computer to open up the large staion doors so he could get out.

He noticed that space was much more black and intimidating that he remembered, but he took off quickly, trying his best to keep unseen. When the doors closed he flew underneath the Massive so he wouldn't be seen and typed in his destination.

"Course set. Destination: Earth" his computer said, in that odd female voice that he hated.

Purple sighed and leaned back in his chair, all he had to do now was wait.

* * *

Aneera: WOO! Camping!

Zim: No no! Not woo! I hate camping!

Aneera: You hate everything!

Zim: No I don't.

Aneera: ....... Liar. ANYWAYS! Here's chapter... what is this? Oh yeah, 29!

Zim: Stupid much?

Aneera: No! It's school! I hate it! The first week was TORTURE! My poor brain is gonna be fried before the end of first quarter.

Zim: Oh, there there.

Aneera: DON'T MOCK ME!


	30. Coffee

The sun rose the next day and covered the ground with it's dull warmth, though it's light didn't reach all the way down to the ground. A fog had set in in the early morning and it covered the water, surrounding the island in a veil of mist.

The first of the group to rise was Ara, seeing as he got up extra early every morning. But since he was the only one awake he sat and thought to himself until someone joined him.

An hour past and a few others began to stir in their sleep, often waking soon after. It wasn't until around nine that everyone was up and had started to move around. They kept quiet and to themselves, too tired or drowsy to hold much of a conversation.

"I need coffee." Dib rubbed his eyes and felt around on the ground for his glasses. Once he had grabbed hold of them he slipped them on his face and waited for his vision to come into focus.

It was noted that a few of the Irkens had snuck back into the house in the late hours of the night, trying to make it look like they just got up before everyone else. Those who left consisted of Zink, Zim, Noah, Aneera, Gir and Minimoose, which wasn't really that surprising. But at least the rest had stayed.

Tak was the last to wake up due to her horrible sleeping habits, she never really ever slept, she just napped from time to time. So naturally when she woke up she was in a bad mood, making others feel anxious around her. "I'm going inside." she announced, standing up and dusting off her uniform.

Dib looked up and yawned, then stood himself up. "Mind if I join you?" He waited until she turned and shook her head, letting him catch up. "I noticed that you didn't sleep very well."

Tak stole a quick glance at him. "No I didn't, but I don't sleep. Irkens don't sleep. We nap." she explained, ducking under the large leaf that hung in the small opening to the inside of the forest. "You didn't sleep much either."

Dib looked away and blushed, he didn't realize that anyone had noticed. "I usually wake up in the middle of the night."

"Oh." Tak didn't say anything for a while after that and soon the two entered the clearing where more fog had settled.

"Whoa, I can't see a thing." Dib mumbled, looking left and right. He slowly began to walk forward and feel around through the fog, making sure that Tak stayed close behind and didn't stray. When they were in the middle the fog was so dense that Dib couldn't see anything in any direction, but he kept moving in the same direction.

Tak was thankful that the boy wore such dark clothes, otherwise she might've lost him. Though she was grateful when they were out and the house was visible again.

Dib walked up and held the door open for Tak, quickly following behind and inside.

"Good morning!" Zim called from the kitchen, waving a fork around in the air. "Sleep well?"

"No." the two said in unison. Tak continued into the lower base while Dib continued into the kitchen for his coffee, only to be horribly disappointed.

"Where's the coffee?" He looked over at the small mini pot of where coffee should have been, but was not. "I... need coffee." Then he turned to look at Zim, almost as though he were blaming the Irken for the lack of coffee.

Zim just looked around like he had no idea what the child was talking about. "What's a coffee?"

Dib looked down at the floor and sighed, hurt. He really wanted coffee. He needed coffee. His world revolved around coffee! "It's what makes me happy in the mornings."

Completely lost in the conversation Zim yelled for his robot and waited until Gir was in front of him and said, "Gir, make coffee."

"WEEE! I'm gonna make coffee!" Gir screamed, fishing out the bag of coffee and one of those thin round paper bowl looking things that went inside the coffee pot.

"Thank you." Dib said, still weary from the lack of sleep he got. While he waited for the coffee to brew he sat down on the couch next to Aneera and stared at the TV, not really contemplating what he was watching. "Good morning." he said, which came out in the middle of a yawn.

Aneera only nodded and tried to focus on the TV, but failing miserably.

Dib studied her carefully, trying to decipher her expression. "Coffee?" he asked.

Aneera turned her head to look at him, then nodded and tried to focus on the TV again. She was vaguely aware of the small child on the screen wearing nothing but a very large shirt and a diaper.

"Ah," Dib nodded himself. "Gir is making a pot, it should be ready soon..." Towards the end of his scentence Dib began to absentmindedly fall sideways until his head rested on Aneera's shoulder. "Coffee."

She smiled and petted him on his head, playing with the odd piece of hair that stood up and curved back. _I wonder how he gets it to stay like that._ She made a mental note to ask him later after he was awake.

* * *

"Da coffee is DONE!" Gir shouted and ran into the living room, flailing his arms about like he couldn't control them. "GO EAT IT!"

Dib sat up and dashed madly into the kitchen, concentrating on not losing his mind. "Coffee!" He threw open a cupboard and grabbed a mug, his eyes wide and glasses askew on his face.

Gir squealed with delight as he watched the boy drown his coffee in Splenda and creamer, making the liquid turn from dark brown to a light milky brown.

Dib was careful not to chug the piping hot drink in his hands, but blow on it and sip so that it wasn't so hot. "Mmmm." He smiled, instantly feeling the caffeine work it's wonders.

Zim walked up and looked at the boy in disgust. "That stuff smells pretty awful. I don't see how you drink it." He leaned over and placed what would be his nose over the cup of coffee and took a whiff. Zim recoiled and put a hand over the small bump of his nose and cringed. "Ew!"

"Hey, don't judge a book by it's cover!... Or it's smell." Dib stopped himself and thought about what just came out of his mouth. "Well here, at least try it." He held out the small cup in both hands towards Zim, looking almost annoyed.

Said Irken just stared at the brownish stuff, scrunching up his face. "Oh alright." He leaned over again, dipped his tongue into the steamy liquid and tasted. At first he wasn't sure, but then, it was like heaven. "Oooooooh... GIMME!"

"No it's mine!" Dib held his cup out of reach from Zim's clawed hands, grabbing for the coffee. "Get away!"

Zim stood up and whipped his head around to look at the miniature pot, there was still some left. "Mine." he whispered under his breath, quickly making his way over to steal the last of it. Once he had a cup full he blew on it until until he was satisfied, then drank.

Dib just stood there and watched. _This could get ugly... What have i done!?_ He slowly crouched down to the floor and hid from view before he could be accused of the unspeakable things that were sure to ensue.

Soon everybody was inside the house and there was a fresh pot of coffee made for whoever wasn't fortunate enough to get a cup before Zim got to it. As people began to wake up and move around some more there was knock on the front door.

"I'll get it!" Aneera stood up and left the living room, asking herself who could possibly be at the door, they were on a remote island out in the middle of nowhere. She turned the knob and slowly opened the door, smiling. "PURPLE!" she yelled, lunging for him with her arms outstretched.

"Hi!" he said, hugging her tightly as he picked her up and moved into the house, kicking the door shut behind him. "Thought I'd stop by and check in. I missed you."

Aneera only hugged him tighter and sighed. "I missed you too."

Purple gently set her down on the sofa and took the seat the next to her. He didn't get a chance to say much before people noticed his amazing presence and decided to announce it to whomever was within ear shot.

"My Tallest!?" Zink looked over from where she had been sitting in the other room, her head straining to see him. "Wha... What are you doing here?" She stood up and walked over, bowed, then sat down in the chair opposite him and Aneera.

Purple smiled and Zink and patted her on the head. "I wanted to know how you were doing down here. But I couldn't hardly get a moment to myself, so I decided to make a run for it and just fly down."

Zink was about to preach to him about how dangerous it was for him to be there and how worried she was when Zim walked in.

Zim had his eyes opened as wide as they would go and his right antennae was twitching madly. He had a small cup of coffee clutched in his hands, and he was hunched over ever so slightly. "Coffee."

Aneera looked at him, her eyes narrowing. "WHO GAVE HIM COFFEE!?" She stood up and began to glare at random people until she found the culprit. It wasn't until her eyes scanned the kitchen that she found him. "Dib." she hissed, balling her hands into fists.

Dib took a small step back, then turned around and ran full speed down the hall. "I DIDN'T DO IT!" he yelled, opening the first door he came across, flinging himself inside and yanking the door shut behind him.

"DIB!" Aneera stopped in front of the door and just looked at it. "Um... you're in the closet!" Then she calmly walked away, feeling satisfied in knowing that he wouldn't give anybody coffee again. She plopped herself next to Purple when she was back in the living room and smiled.

Purple looked down at her and shook his head, smiling from antennae to antennae. "You haven't changed much."

"I know!" She looked up and smiled back, leaning her head against him.

Zim was standing in the middle of the floor with the cup in both hands. His eyes were wide open and one antennae was still twitching madly while one of his pinkie fingers did the same. "Coffee." he said a little louder.

"Yes, you had coffee. Whoop dee doo." Gaz glanced at him from where she was sitting, though never fully taking her eyes off of the game she was playing.

"IT'S AMAZING!" Zim screamed, clutching the cup tighter. Now one of his eyes were twitching along with a few other appendages. Though now his entire body was shaking slightly, almost as though he was shivering from a cold day.

Zink went to open her mouth but was rudely interrupted by the computer. She scowled and crossed her arms, annoyed.

"Um, there's an incoming transmission. Should I answer it?" The computer had obviously noticed the state that Zim was in and wondered if it would be safe for him to answer and actually hold a conversation with someone.

"YEAH!" Zim bobbed up and down with cup still in his hands. "Who is it!?"

"It's me." Tiz's face showed up on the TV screen. "Well you look... happy." Tiz looked Zim up and down and down, deciding not to ask.

"Hi buddy! Hows it going!? What have you been up to? Anything new? Well guess what!? I had coffee today and it's AMAZING! I feel like I'm gonna explode I feel so good! You should try it some time, its really good. But its not a sweet good, its bland good! But its GOOD! Oh man is it good, I can't believe how good it is! You know you should really have some and-" Zim stopped bouncing up and down as Tiz held up his hand.

"Slow down! I can't understand you! Now tell me, when are you leaving for the moon?" Tiz dropped his hand and cocked his head to one side.

As this was new information to everyone else in the room antennae perked up, heads raised and expression got suspicious.

"Moon? I'm suppose to go to the moon? You never told me to go to the moon, nope nuh uh. You did not, why do I need to go to the moon?" Zim held up his cup closer to his face as if to hide behind it.

Tiz rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yes you were supposed to go to the moon! To build the base remember? So that the troops would have a place to eat, possibly sleep and recharge weapons!"

Zim looked around the room, then he looked back at Tiz. "Oh... Okay." He lowered his cup and thought deeply for a moment. "When was I supposed to go to the moon?"

Tiz shook his head and massaged his temples. "As soon as possible. The sooner we have a base on the moon the greater chance of winning we'll have!"

"OKAY!" Zim yelled, tired of being sassed by his friend. "I'll go up today."

"Oh no you wont!" Aneera stepped forward and stood next to him, hands on her hips. "You aren't going anywhere until that caffeine is out of your system."

Zim opened his mouth to speak but closed it again, knowing it was pointless to argue with her, she was a girl so she'd win no matter what he did. "Oh alright. But can't I at least have a little of it?"

"Why?" She asked.

"Because, I'll get more work done! Especially when I'm practically bouncing off the walls." Zim began to bounce slightly on the balls of his feet, eager to get moving. "Like he said, the faster I get it built the better chance of winning we'll have!"

Aneera crossed her arms and looked him in the eye real hard for a few minutes. "Fine, but please be safe okay?"

Zim smiled and gave her a hug. "Don't worry, I wont be gone long. A few days maybe." He then turned back to Tiz and smiled. "Commander, have your fleets prepared, am I clear?"

"Yes Sir!" Tiz saluted and cut the transmission, leaving the room in silence for a breif moment.

"Commander?... Sir? When did this happen!?" Gaz had paused her game to listen to the transmission. She'd told herself that being more involved in the war between Earth and Irk was a good idea, plus there was going to be violence. So now she tried to pay attention to important conversations.

Purple looked over and smiled at her. "That's right, I gave Tiz his own fleet of pilots. He's been promoted to Fighter Jet Fleet Commander. And since Zim is leading this charade I made him an Irken Elite. He's in charge."

"I'M SPECIAL!" Zim suddenly shrieked, holding the cup up to his face again.

"Yes, yes you are." Zink rolled her eyes and decided that nobody was going to be able to put up with Zim's hyperactive attitude much longer. So she stood up and walked over to him, snatching the cup from his hands. "You don't need anymore coffee!" And with that she returned to the kitchen.

Zim looked down at him empty hands for about ten seconds before he noticed something. "Hey... ZINK! Gimme back my cup!"

"No!" She yelled from the kitchen.

Noah looked up at Zim and laughed a little. "Wow, that was such a delayed reaction."

"She took my coffee cup away from me!" He pointed a finger accusingly at Zink and pouted. "But that's okay, I have to go anyways. You hear that Zink!? I don't care!"

Aneera looked up from where she was sitting, her antennae bobbing up and down. "Go? Right now? Where are you going?"

"To the Moon. Why?" Zim momentarily forgot about the lack of mass in his hands.

"You can't just leave! What about us?... What about me!? What if something happens to YOU!?" She began to stand up but Zim put a hand on her shoulder and gently eased her back down.

He smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I'm only going to be up there for a couple of days. Just long enough to set up a base alright?" He leaned over a kissed her. "I promise that nothing will happen, okay?"

She hesitated for a long moment, but trusted his judgment. "Okay."

Zim smiled once more before finding Dib, Zink and Tak, dragging them along with him. "We'll be back soon!" With that they entered the lower levels of the base and gathered supplies and tools.

"Bye." Purple said, not really caring if they heard or not.

Ara looked around the room. "Well that was a spur of the moment decision."

* * *

"YOW!" Dib yelped as yet another piece of machinery was thrown viciously at his head. "Will you guys cut it out! That's the third time you've hit me!"

Zink's head popped up from behind a large pile of both useless junk and small pieces of technology that might be useful for their little venture. "Please be more careful with that stuff! We're trying to save your planet in case you hadn't noticed!" She glared at him and then disappeared behind the pile of stuff.

"You're throwing things at my head and you're telling ME to be careful?" Dib snapped back, adjusting the position of his arms so that what he was holding wouldn't fall.

Zink huffed and reappeared. "Well if you're head wasn't so big-!"

"MY HEADS NOT BIG!" he shrieked, glaring angrily at her. "And its not my fault! YOU'RE THE ONE THROWING THINGS!"

There was a loud groan and Tak entered the room with a rolled up blueprint of the Massive in her left hand. "Will you two please SHUT UP!? I can hear you from inside the other room!"

"She's throwing things at me!" Dib said defensively, sticking out his lower lip and pouting.

Zink opened her mouth and was about to protest against him but Tak held up her hand.

"Save it Zink. Just be quiet so we can get out of here." She turned to leave, holding her head high indicating that she thought of herself higher than them. "Worthless half-wits." she muttered under he breath, clenching her fists. She picked up her pace and entered the room where Zim was zipping around, completely concentrated on whatever it was that he was doing.

"I can't find it! Where is it!?" he yelled, shouting to the control brains for help.

Tak sighed and shook her head, making her way towards the holo table in the middle of the room. She spread the blueprints out on top of the table's surface and stood back. The surface glowed underneath the sheet of paper and a holographic model of the Massive appeared in the air. "ZIM! Come here."

Zim stopped what he was doing and bounded over towards her. "Ooooh... what's that?" He waved his hand through the holograph and watched as it flickered.

Tak swatted his hand away and glared at him. "Pay attention. This" she motioned towards the holograph, "Is the Massive. Now what we have to do is figure out a way to infiltrate their security system, shut down their defences and-"

"**Incoming Transmission**." the computer announced.

Zim smiled and said, "Oh goody! Answer it!"

The screen on the other end of the room lit up and the Irken insignia showed up on the black screen. The two waited quietly until the caller showed on the screen.

Tak smiled at Tallest Red, her fangs visible. "And take you hostage."

"HUH!?" Zim whipped his around to look at her but she ducked behind him and pinched his pressure point on the back of his neck. He fell to the ground and lay limp.

Red smiled down at her. "Good work Tak."

She stood at attention and beamed. "Thank you, My Tallest."

* * *

Aneera: IT'S LATE!!! It's late it's late it's late it's late!!!

Zim: Yes it is!

Author: I'm sorry! I moved so I was extremely busy with packing and I never got enough time to write!!! I'm sorry! *cry*

Zim: YOU SHOULD BE!

Aneera: Yeah... I got bored.

Author: But its okay now 'cause here it is! Hope you enjoyed! Thankfully now I'll have more time to work on this over break. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Zim: No! I shall NOT give! Zim does not give, Zim TAKES!

Aneera: So it would be Happy Thankstaking...?


	31. Abduction

"Now, what would you like me to do with him, My Tallest?" Tak gazed up at Red with a sick smile on her face and one foot pressed firmly on Zim's chest to hold him down.

Red pondered a little, not having put too much thought into his plan due to the fact that he honestly didn't think he'd get this far. "Well, does he have anything useful around? Something to help us maybe?"

Tak shook her head. "No, where ever he keeps his personal and important documents they're well hidden. Besides, I wont be able to find them before someone notices that he's unconscious."

"Well then just steal some of his weapons and try to get out unseen. " He watched as Tak gave him a look. "And if that doesn't work then just don't die."

Tak mumbled under her breath. "Yes My Tallest, I will return as soon as possible." She then saluted and cut the transmission. When she was sure that she was alone Tak averted her eyes to the darkest corner of the room. "Mimi, come. I need you to cover me."

* * *

"Hey, I haven't heard from Tak or Zim in a while, you think they're okay?" Dib asked, calling over to the pile where Zink was.

Her head popped up and she shrugged, walking out from behind the mound of rubbish. "I wouldn't worry too much."

Dib had an uneasy feeling in his gut and knew that ignoring it would only make him sick. So he set down the things he had in his arms and exited the room, peeking around the corner. He could hear loud noises and laughter from down the hall and decided to investigate.

The hall was dark and he had a bit of trouble seeing but he managed to make his way down the hall to where the loudness was coming from. He poked his head into the room and tried not to scream. Zim was laying unconscious on the floor beside Mimi while Tak was rifling through all of Zim's most powerful array of weapons, laughing hysterically.

"Mimi, we did it! We finally got him! Oh I feel so... happy!"

It wasn't two seconds before Dib was on the run. _I have to tell somebody!_He bolted back to where Zink was and freaked out, telling her what he saw.

"What!?" she asked.

"Shh! She'll hear you! We have to go tell the others!" Dib beckoned with his hand for her to follow as they dashed down the hall towards the elevator.

For the two minutes they were in the elevator shaft it felt like two hours, both fidgeting with whatever they could until they reached the ground floor. When the doors opened they burst out into the living room.

"TAK IS A TRAITOR!"

All heads in the house turned and looked at them. Most from the living room and others from the kitchen and upstairs landing.

"No, really? What made you come to _that _conclusion?" Aneera asked sarcastically, folding her arms.

Dib's eyes bugged out and he began to freak out again. "She knocked out Zim and now she's stealing your weapons! She's been working for Red the whole time!"

All whispers in the room instantly hushed.

"She _WHAT_!?" Aneera dropped her hands and let her tail flick out behind her. There was no response from the others so she began to head for the labs.

"No!" Dib ran out in front of her. "She'll kill you!"

Aneera rolled her eyes and pushed Dib aside. "I ain't afraid o' her! Ya'll sit tight and let me handle this." She was halfway across the room before there was a huge explosion from the hall. Smoke shout out from the gaping hole and covered everything in thick, dense smoke. People coughed and wheezed until the smoke cleared and Tak could be seen walking towards the front door.

"Oh look, a farewell party." she said, holding up a plasma blaster, smoking wafting out from the barrel of the gun. "Too bad I can't stay."

Aneera took a step forward, challenging Tak with her glare. Both knew very well that Aneera was the better fighter, but one had a weapon of mass destruction and the other had years of being the dominant species.

"Are you challenging me?" Tak asked, popping out her hip, a smug look on her face. "Or are you threatening me?"

"Both, put him down." Aneera took another step forward, flaring out her wings. "NOW!"

Tak scoffed and dismissed her with a wave of her hand. "I don't have time for this." She began to walk away when Aneera lunged at her.

There was a sickening shriek of terror and yells of alarm in the midst of the confusion. People scattered about the room and took cover behind furniture and tables as the two began to roll around on the floor.

Aneera had just gotten the advantage of being on top of Tak, momentarily immobilizing her. But once she had one foot free she dug it hard into Aneera's stomach, causing the other to fly across the room. Tak then stood and held the gun out, aiming for Aneera's head.

Noah, who had previously been tucked safely under Dib's trench coat, had tore away from the boy's grip and was now advancing on Tak. He leaped for her, tackling to the ground just before Tak was able to kill his mother. The shot went through the ceiling, creating a giant hole that let the beams of the late afternoon sun shine in.

"Noah!" Zink reached out for him, hoping to get him back to safety before something terrible happened to him.

He didn't notice, he was half passed out on the floor, he'd been hit by the back of Tak's gun on their way down. His eyes were half open and his vision was fuzzy, but he could see a figure a few feet away, laying on their side. But they began to get up, slowly, but they were standing within a few seconds.

Tak stood herself, brushing the dirt and debris off of her uniform. "This is pathetic! This whole situation is pathetic! I can't believe this." She turned around and was about to go and leave with Zim when her face was rudely introduced to his right fist.

Aneera took this opportunity to get back on her feet, steadily rising as she surveyed the room. Just as she was about to lunge for Tak again something swiped her across the face with such force that she spun around and fell on the ground.

Mimi darted away from the hybrid, making her way towards Noah with her fist ready behind her. She prepared to swing at him but suddenly felt her circuits beginning to fry. She stopped abruptly and saw a frying pan in front of her face before she shut down.

Gaz gave a loud 'hmph' and went after Tak, frying pan in one hand and her Game Slave in the other.

Looking around Tak saw there was no way she'd be able to escape with Zim, so she took the next best thing, his son. She whipped around, grabbed Noah by the collar of his uniform, swiped up Mimi off the ground and activated her hover board. With in a matter of seconds she was out of the house and headed towards the awaiting Irken ship.

"NO!" Aneera snarled and flared her wings, blue flames flicking between her fangs. She crouched and prepared to launch herself into the air.

"Aneera!" Zim had sprung to his feet, grabbed the plasma blaster that Tak had abandoned and was getting ready to go up with her. He hoisted himself onto her back and held on, letting her take off.

She bolted out of the large house through the hole in the roof, digging her claws into the edge of the roof to give herself a place to push off. Tucking her wings close to her body she was able to gain as much speed as possible.

Zim had to squint as the wind dried his eyes, but he was able to see Tak a little ways into the distance, maybe three hundred yards. He tightened his grip on his gun upon seeing Noah who was clearly struggling against Tak's grip.

As Aneera got closer she had to slow down so that she wouldn't crash into them, sending them all plummeting towards the unforgiving salt water below.

Zim sat up straight and raised the plasma blaster, aiming at Tak, who was thankfully standing while Noah was sitting. This minimized the risk of hitting Noah by accident.

Thanking himself for taking those extra target practice lessons Zim held up the massive weapon and aimed for Tak. Then he got a better idea, aiming a little off to one side of her head he was hoping that if he could shoot close to her without actually hitting anything he could throw her off balance. Not enough to make her fall but enough to make her slow down and catch herself from falling, giving them a chance to catch up and snag Noah before Tak got away with him.

Aneera let out a strange chirping noise, though more reptilian and lower in tone, like that of a velociraptor, only more harsh and threatening.

Keeping himself steady for the aftershock Zim fired once, watching it speed ahead past Tak, but not close enough to make her sway. He growled and fired again, getting closer but still not close enough.

Tak laughed at Zim's pitiful attempts, not understanding what he was doing. "Wow Zim! You're more pathetic then I realized!"

Letting out a strained hiss Zim fired again, this time with much more success. Tak jerked off the side from the force of the blast, yelping in surprise. Zim grinned, his fangs glinting in the light. He fired again, aiming just a little closer to Tak.

"GAH!" Tak screached and nearly lost her balance, causing her to slow down considerably. Noah had to grab her leg to keep himself from falling off, but he had to be careful because if they were to fall they'd most likely die.

Seizing the opportunity Aneera sped up and just reached the hover board when Tak righted herself and pulled out her baton, one of the few things she'd kept from her days of working on the Massive. She got firm grip on it and jabbed it at Aneera's softer underbelly

Zim was about to grab Noah and pull him up but Aneera gave out a sickening shriek and jerked away from Tak, quickly losing altitude.

"Ha!" she yelled, twirling the baton once and keeping at her side, in case she needed it again.

Aneera fell for a few stories before she composed herself and, with difficulty, was able climb back up to level out with Tak, who was once again far ahead. She grunted in pain with almost every firm beat of her wings, having her Latissimus dorsi as damaged as it was flying wasn't easy. Breathing wasn't as easy either but she was able to manage for the most part.

"Hahaha! Not so tough now are you!?" Tak sneered in delight and pulled out a small communicator from her PAK. "This is special operations coordinator Tak, bring me up." She then put the small device away.

Noah sruggled a little, trying to glare at Tak as best he could. "Where are you taking me!?"

"You're about to find out." Tak grinned as she saw a familiar ship appear before them, though it was a few hundred feet away it didn't seem all that big.

In truth it wasn't a very big ship, it was a lower-class criminal transportation ship, which usually held only one or two Irkens besides the on board crew.

Zim squinted into the distance, trying to see the ship and its crew a little better. He could tell it was a CT ship, that much was obvious to him, having ridden in so many. But he was having trouble identifying anyone that was inside, due to the faintly tinted glass of the front.

Seeing as Aneera was injured there wasn't much of a chance of getting any closer, both of them knew that. But there was one thing that she hadn't tried yet.

She opened her jaws, pulled back her lips and projected her burst of fire as far as she could. Unfortunately this didn't last long as she was forced to stop due to the immense pain she felt. But she also felt helpless too, unable to fly straight, can't sustain a flame and giving them less hope of getting to Noah before it was too late.

Said smeet was still holding on for dear life, calling out for help as best he could. "Mom! Dad! Help me!"

Zim's heart tied itself into a knot as he listened to his only son's cries for help. "We're coming Noah! Just hang on!" Zim didn't know if what he said was reassuring or not, because it surely wasn't working for him.

Aneera, despite the pain she was in, kept on going, she'd already told herself that she would save her son even if it killed her. So she beat her wings harder, faster, anything that would give her more speed. But she could feel it, the muscle, it was pulling, she was straining it too much, it began to tear. Aneera screamed in agony as she continued to tear herself apart, tissue by tissue. Flying became torture and she was hardly able to breath with her body straining so much, but she kept going.

"Mom!" Noah watched his mother and the tears fell, he couldn't stand to feel so helpless when he knew there was nothing that he could do. Terrible images began to play in his mind, how his mother would push herself far beyond her limits just to save him and fail all because he couldn't do anything to help her.

Zim held on tightly, he could feel the pain that his wife was feeling, he could feel how her body had to strain to keep its heard beating. He wanted to tell her to stop, to slow down, but he knew she'd only argue that it was their son she was fighting for, not her well-being. But he couldn't help but admire how far she was willing to go for someone she loved, he'd never seen anything like it. His whole life he grew up living by 'its every man for himself' and for a while it worked just fine for him. He'd never seen an Irken with so much passion before.

Tak could see the CT ship clearly now, she was almost there, all of her hard work would finally pay off, sort of. She muttered under her breath at what Red was going to say when she brought him the smeet and not Zim, but at least she got something _useful_.

At the sight of the ship Aneera's heard began to sink, what if she couldn't make it? What if they took Noah away? What if they never got him back? It made her sick to think those horrible thoughts, she didn't want to imagine living without her son. And it was that drive that kept her going, even though somewhere in the back of her mind she knew it wouldn't do any good.

Tak finally reached the ship and twisted the board around so that one of the crew could pry Noah off of the board.

"Mom! Dad! Help!" he cried, holding desperately on to the hover board. The Irken that was trying to get him off was pulling so hard that Noah's entire arms were getting sore and they eventually went limp. He was dragged into the ship kicking and screaming, fighting for his life, letting his raw Irken instincts kick in.

Even though the other was only about half his size he was able to shove Noah into the holding cell at the back of the ship with only minimal injuries and a few scratches.

Tak stepped onto the ship bringing the board with her and turned to face Red. "Yes I know, its not Zim. But at least we can use him to lure the others to us, so he's still useful anyways." She turned and left without letting Red argue or spit insults in her face.

Aneera screamed out for her son, desperately trying to reach him. But it was that one last strain the pulled her under into the darkness that had been eating away at her. She blacked out almost instantly, her wings going limp as she fell towards the water below.

"Aneera!" Zim basically began to panic, if she hit the water he'd most likely die. His breathing quickened and his hands shook as he held on for his life.

* * *

Aneera: Another chapter done... I feel good!

Zim: You're gonna KILL me!?

Aneera: ... As far as you know!

Zim: I'm too amazing to die!

Aneera: And I'm Bill Gates! Get over it. REVIEW PLEASE!


	32. Praying For Dummies

The water below began to look black and unpleasent as the two grew closer and closer with every passing second. What was once beautiful scenery was about to be his grave.

Zim shut his eyes tightly, his memories flashing in his mind from since he was a little smeet. He was terrified that what he was feeling now would be the last he'd ever feel. He braced himself for the cold, unforgiving water's deadly embrace... but it never came. The sensation of falling was no longer there, he felt as though he was floating and at first he thought he was dead.

"Hey!" yelled a voice.

Finally finding the courage to open his eyes, Zim gazed up at the Voot above him, so obviously he wasn't dead. He looked down and tightened his grip on Aneera's shoulders, the water was only inches from them, death was only an arm's length away.

* * *

Zink held the tractor beam steady as she brought the two up into the ship, Zim was completely terrified and Aneera was unconscious. "What happened? Where's Noah?" Zink began to panic as she shook Zim violently by the shoulders. "Zim, speak to me!"

"They took him." he replied quietly. "They took him away."

Dib looked out of the Voot and watched the CT ship take off into space. He was seething with anger and felt like punching somebody's face in. Noah was practically his nephew seeing as him and Zim were basically brothers, so he was just as upset as anybody else.

"Hey!" Gaz shouted from the back. "Why are we still sitting here!? Shouldn't we be trying to save the little monster?" She had her arms folded and for a second it sounded as if she was a little concerned.

Zink shoved Zim away and went back to the controls, turning the ship around and heading for the house.

Dib looked over at Zim and his heart grew heavy, he felt so bad for him. He walked over and sat next to Zim, placing a hand on his shoulder for comfort, knowing full well it wouldn't do a bit of good.

"Its not fair." Zim whispered. "It just isn't fair."

Dib's stomach began to tie itself into a knot as he listened to what the other was saying. He gently wrapped his arms around the Irken and silently hushed him as Zim began to cry.

Zim curled himself into a ball and leaned against Dib trying not to make too much noise, even though he was already hissing under his breath. He felt so empty on the inside at that moment, it was almost as if he had nothing left.

The ship arrived at the house and it slowly lowered into the mini docking station below. The lights began to come on as the computer recognized the Voot and the room quickly lit up.

Both Zim and Dib helped each other up so that they could carry Aneera to the med bay. Zim held her by her shoulders and Dib supported her lower back and legs as the two carefully took her into the lower levels of the base.

* * *

"The job was simple, Tak!" Red towered over the girl in anger. "Bring Zim to me!"

Tak looked away from him while he yelled at her, getting quickly annoyed with the situation. When he was done she glared back up at him and met his angery gaze. "I told you, the pill wasn't strong enough! And I DID knock him unconscious! But then he woke up again so I gave him what I had!"

Red slapped Tak across the face and glared harder. "I'm your Tallest, you will treat me with respect!" He then grabbed her by the front of her uniform and lifted her off the ground. "Just be lucky my plan wasn't completely spoiled because of you."

Tak silently growled under her breath and brushed herself off after she was roughly put down. "Excuse me, my Tallest."

"Hey! Let me out of here!" Noah cried from the back of the ship. He had his hands on the bars of his cell and was doing his best to shove them loose.

The guard standing next to him became fed up with his cries of help and decided to do something about it. He pressed his hand to the heypad next to the cell and turned on the electric field.

Noah screamed in agony as the voltage ran down the metal bars and into his hands. He fell backwards and cried in pain, smoke rolling off of his hands. He then yanked off his gloves and examined himself, he was badly burned and his skin was already turning a sickly white. His face became morbid and he began to tremble at the sight and from the immense pain he felt.

"That should keep you quiet!" The guard began to laugh at Noah's pain.

Noah sat back in the corner of his cell, brought his knees up to his chest and slowly rocked back and forth while cradeling his hands.

* * *

"This is worse than I thought," Zim mumbled quietly. "I dont know if I can fix it."

Dib scowled and, as lightly as he could, he slapped Zim across the face. "Yes you can! You will!"

"But-"

"But nothing! You love her don't you!?" Dib watched as Zim nodded his head slowly. "Then you can fix it!"

Zim's antennae went flat and he looked over at his wife, barely breathing on the table. She was slipping away and he knew if he didnt find a way to help her than he'd lose her. "How?" he asked.

Dib looked around the room and sighed, he didn't recognize half of the things on the shelves. "What about that stuff you used to put her wings back together?"

"I don't know if it would work... I suppose I could try." Zim turned around and looked at the bottle of his nanobots that were sitting on the shelf on the opposite end of the room.

Dib quickly became irritated with the Irken. "Well if you don't do _something_ then she's gonna die!"

Zim's head snapped in his direction and he gave Dib a blank stare, silently asking why the human cared so much. He didn't say anything to him, he honestly didn't know what to say. So he quietly walked over to the shelf and picked up the small jar.

The air in the room was heavy and breathing was no easy task, it was thick and cold. The only noise in the room was the clanking of metal on metal as Zim went through his medical instruments as he searched for a scalpal.

* * *

I'm cold, I'm alone and I'm scared. I don't even know where I am! And I know I'm not going some place good.

My hands still hurt and I can't move them but I don't need to so it's okay. I'm awful hungry though, the guards haven't fed me anything but all they ever do is eat so I know they have food. Are they trying to starve me? Probably not.

"Hey, you." I looked up to see who could possibly want to talk to me and of course it was Red. He looked rather bored.

I folded my arms and raised a brow at him, talking to the creep was out of the question.

"You hungry?" He didn't seem to really care so much, but he at least tried to act like it.

I blinked and stared at him, he couldn't possibly be serious. "Like you even care."

"No, you're right, I don't. But I would prefer it if you didn't starve." He looked behind him for a second, then turned his attention back to me.

I didn't really have a retort for that one. "Okay fine, I'm hungry."

Red nodded and left for a moment, returning with a cookie. He tossed it through the bars at me, half expecting me to catch it, half not really caring either way.

It was in the air before I realized that I couldn't exactly use my hands so I did the only thing I knew to do. I leaned forward and opened my mouth, snatching the flying cookie out of the air before before it hit the ground.

Red snickered at me. "Nice catch."

I scowled at him as he turned and walked away, wanting the cookie in my mouth to be his head as I bit into it.

* * *

Aneera's tail flicked and writhed as Zim began to opperate on her. He could tell she was a in at least some pain because every once in a while she'd tightly shut her eyes and shake her head.

Zim gently slid the scalpal across her soft belly where the burn was, flinching as the scales and skin parted. If it was at all possible he tunred even greener than he already was, feeling sick and nausious. He swallowed as he got a good look at the damaged muscle tissue, it was way worse than he thought.

Watching sugeries was always something that made Dib throw up, he had an extremely weak stomach and seeing blood, guts and internal body parts was something that really made his stomach act up.

Holding his breath Zim took a handful of the goo and spread it evenly along the scortched tissue. When he was satisfied with his work he pushed the skin back together and applied some more of the solution, letting the scales hold it in place.

"Are you done?" Dib asked, sounding as if he was about to regurgitate his breakfast.

"Yeah," Zim replied. "I think so." He sighed and turned around, about to walk out the door. "Dib, are you okay?"

Dib only nodded his head and smiled. "At least she'll be alright."

Zim rolled his eyes. "If she'll be alright." He then began walking towards the door again, but Dib placed a hand on his shoulder and jerked him around.

"Will you stop!?" Dib frowned and looked at Zim disbelievingly.

Zim cocked his head to one side. "Stop what?"

"Being so negative!" Dib then began to scowl.

"How am I being negative!?"

"You're not thinking positive! You will save her! I know you will!"

"What if I don't!?" Zim's voice started to rise as he got angry.

"You wont if you keep thinking like that!"

"Why do you care so much!? She's not your wife!"

"Exactly! And I know you'd be hurt if something happened! But I don't want that for you! Because..." Dib stopped, not knowing if he should say what he wanted to.

"Because why!?"

"Because I know I'll never have someone who loves me the way she loves you! But you guys make me happy! Because... because even though I'll never get to have my own family at least I know I belong to yours..." Dib took his glasses off and wiped the stray tears off with his shirt, then placed them gently back onto the bridge of his nose.

Zim's antennae drooped and he wrapped his arms around Dib. "Dib, I... I never knew... I'm... I'm sorry."

Dib didn't hug back, he only stood there and concentrated on not falling to the floor in a fit of sobs. "It's okay."

* * *

Zink, Gaz, Purple, Ara and Kasandra were all waiting quietly upstairs, hoping that there would be good news. All of their heads turned as the elevator doors slid open and the two teenage boys slowly walked out.

For a long while they stood and nobody said anything, the air was too thick to speak and yet it was so thin that breathing was becoming difficult. It took a good two minutes before the air seemed to level out and someone spoke.

"Well?" Zink poked her head out from behind Gaz so she could see Zim's face. "Is she going to be okay?"

Zim's face lowered and he spoke, though more to the ground than he did to Zink. "I don't know."

There were a few hushed whispers that floated about the room before the group settled again. The room got unaturally quiet and a chill seemed to waft through the air.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Gaz had one eye open and the other was closed, giving her an annoyed yet uncaring sort of look.

"I mean I don't know!" Zim's anger, which was more fear than anything, began to make itself known yet again. "I designed those nanobots to heal thin surfaces quickly, i dont know how it works on muscles! But it was my only option!"

Ara sighed looked around the room, he didn't really know Zim on a very personal level but he felt as though he was obligated to comfort the alien. "Zim," he said, waiting for the Irken to face him. "I know I don't know her as well as you do but... from what I heard I know she's strong and she loves you all very much, I honestly don't believe that something like this would be enough to take her life."

Zim took a deep breath and let it out shakily, closing his eyes to try and keep himself under control. Tears began to threaten and Zim tried to keep them at bay but they were too heavy and one by one they fell, like small little drops of his very being.

Purple quickly stood and floated over to Zim, swiftly picking him up and carrying him to the opposite end of the room. Zim's soft crying started to turn into a fit and Purple quietly told Zim to head upstairs. He gave the little Irken a tight hug before gently nudging him up the stairs. Zim's body had already started to weaken and he wasn't able to walk up the stairs, his PAK reacted on impulse and his spider legs flared out from behind him, aiding him in reaching the second floor.

Purple watched and made sure that Zim reached his bedroom before he turned around to face the others. "I would advise you all to keep your voices down and leave him alone for the next few hours." He then exited the room and disappeared.

* * *

Zim crawled onto his bed and sat down, tears still dripping from his jaw. He looked down at the pillow in front of him and gently laid his head down, the tears soaking into the fabric. For a long while he laid there and thought, trying to come up with a better solution to help save his wife.

Anything that he thought of that would work was something that would either kill her later or destroy her one molocule at a time. There were only a few things that worked on her, because she was half of two different species her atoms and cells were coated with a substance that would react horribly to most Irken forms of medicine.

After a good half hour Zim gave up, he knew he had no other options, all he could do was pray.

Zim had never prayed before and he didn't really know how it worked. He didn't really even believe God or anything, but who else could he turn to for help? He'd been deprived of anything like religion when he was a smeet, so he didn't really have anybody to call to for help.

But he decided to give it a try, it couldn't do any harm. So he closed his eyes tightly and spoke in his head.

_I don't know what I'm doing... I've never prayed whoever I'm talking to I hope you can hear me. I'm scared and I don't know what to do. My wife is close to dying and I don't know if what I've done is enough, but there isn't anything else I _can _do. And so I came to you, for your help. I don't know what exactly you can do to help her and I know I'm being selfish but please don't take her away from me, I need her. She's the only thing thats kept me alive for so long. If I didn't have her life would almost be worthless. So please, don't let her die, please._

* * *

The ground bent softly under Bryan's feet as he ran through the woods, becoming a blur on the background of the forest. His breathing was steady and rythmic as he moved at an inhuman speed.

He could see a portal of light ahead and the air became salty, he was almost to the ocean. The trees ahead parted and he bolted through the leaves, feeling the cool ocean breeze greet his skin.

Bryan gracefully landed in the sand, kicking up a wave of the white powder as he lightly slid to a stop.

The sky above him was turning a yellow color, the sun was starting to set. As he stood at the edge of the water staring up at the clouds he saw a small ship whiz by him overhead.

Instantly he recognized it, it was the CT ship he'd ridden in. Pivoting on his foot he dashed back into the thick dense of trees, folowing close behind the small ship.

It was fairly low to the ground, easily reachable from the top of a building, which there were none. He cursed himself and continued to follow, hoping to find some way to reach it.

He could see up ahead that there was a tower, though he couldn't remember what it was called, the humans used it for transmitting waves of some sort. The very top had a platform, meaning he could get up there.

He had to run faster if he was going to the top in time to jump onto the CT ship. Acting on impulse rather than rational thought he sped up, slowly passing the ship overhead.

The base of the tower was about ten feet off the ground so as soon as he was about five feet away he jumped for it, grabbing onto the rod. He swiftly and elegantly darted up the side of the tower. When he reached the top he held on to the railing, pushed off with his feet and did a sort of backwards backflip onto the platform.

* * *

Red was sitting up front next to the pilot and was boredly looking out the window. He could see a tall metal tower with a blinking red light in front of them, with a peculiar human-like shap on the top. He didn't really care enough to really look at it, so they passed by and continued on their way.

There was a loud thud that came from the side of the ship as if something had smashed into it. Red quickly got up and went to the door, sliding it open so he could see outside. He looked down and saw Bryan clinging to the edge of the engine.

"What is it Sir!?" the pilot asked, having to yell as the door to the ship was open.

"Another criminal." Red beckoned for the cell guard to come over.

The guard looked at Bryan and smiled, leaning out of the door and holding his baton out so that Bryan could grab onto it.

Bryan looked at it coldly for a moment before he reluctantly grabbed it. He was pulled up and inside the ship. The guard didn't give Bryan a chance to pull out his swords, having lightly shocked his hands and then promptly shoving him into the cell upon removing his weapons.

Bryan stumbled into the cell and turned around, the door shutting in his face. He scowled and sat down, noticing a smalled Irken sitting in the corner next to him.

The littler one, obviously still a smeet, looked frightened and hungry. Bryan could literally smell how afraid he was.

"Um, are you alright?" he asked gently.

The smeet shook his head and his hands trembled violently as he held them close to his body as if to protect them.

"Whats wrong with you hands?" Bryan leaned closer to try and see what could possibly be wrong with them. But when the smeet didn't answer he scooted a little closer. "May I see them?"

The smeet looked down at his hands and for a moment debated with himself. After a minute he held out his right hand towards Bryan and held it still.

Bryan gently took the tiny hand in his own and slowly removed the glove. "So, whats your name?"

The smeet looked up and said, "Noah."

"Noah? Hm, interesting name for an Irken." When the glove was all the way off and he could see the hand his face twisted into horror and pity. "What happened?"

"The bars on the door are electrified." he replied quietly, looking at the floor.

Bryan scowled in anger, almost disgusted to be an Irken. "Monsters." he whispered, clenching his jaw.

"So whats gonna happen to us?" Noah asked, looking hopefully up at Bryan.

"I... I don't know."

* * *

Aneera: Chapter 32 is complete!

Zim: I'M NOT GONNA DIE!!! WOOT!

Aneera:... You said woot...

Zim: So?

Aneera: I dunno... the balance of the universe seems... disrupted...

Zim:... Whatever.

Aneera: Anyways! I've had a request to completely redo the first few chapters of the first book, I've been told they're Mary Sue-ish... which I agree, i don't like them either. So what I've decided to do is redo them and repost them as a seperate 'story' document. That way anyone new to reading can still see the transformation in my writing but also read the beginning as more well written literature. I'm going to redo the first one next so the next chapter will be on hold for a while. Hopefully I can get into alternating between this story and the other chapters until they're all done. So I'm going to stop blabbering now and let you review!


	33. Revelation

Noah sat against the wall while he looked down at his hands, the color had started returning earlier but they were still pale. The pain had also subsided though it still felt as though they were on fire.

Bryan was laying on floor with his feet halfway up the wall in front of him, quietly tapping on the metal. He was entertaining himself with the short defiant strand of hair that hung over his left eye, twirling it with one finger.

The ship had entered space hours ago and planet Earth was getting smaller in the window. It was hard just to tell what was land and what was water.

After adverting his eyes from his hands, Noah looked at Bryan and asked, "Who are you?"

The taller Irken looked over and smiled. "My name is Bryan, why?"

"Just curious, are you Irken?" There was a hint of knowing in Noah's voice.

Bryan looked up at the ceiling then back at Noah. "Yes and no, I'm only part Irken. Well most Irken actually."

"What's the rest?"

Once again there was a pause before he answered. "I don't know, I've been like this ever since I can remember. My early childhood is fuzzy, so I don't really know what happened."

Noah cocked his head to one side. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Bryan began. "I have this dream every once in a while where I'm at home with my mom, dad and brother. We were in the middle of a war and we were hiding from the soldiers. At the time I was Irken, like, fully Irken. And the guards found us in our house, after that all I remember is watching my brother get carried out of our house."

"Wow..." Noah said quietly. "Were is your brother?"

Bryan sighed. "My parents said I never had one, that it was just a dream... But it was so real, like the whole thing was a memory and not a dream at all. I think they lied to me so I left to go find him, if he existed."

Noah nodded his head and looked down at the floor. "You look like my dad."

"Who's your dad?" Bryan sat up at looked at Noah.

Noah raised his head and looked back. "Zim."

Bryan's mind went blank for a second before everything he ever knew suddenly made sense to him. He quickly stood up and threw himself against the door, screeching and hissing in anger. "RED!"

Noah backed himself into the corner again and did his best to blend in to the wall.

"Red! Open the door and let me out!" Bryan tugged and yanked at the bars with as much force as he could.

Red walked up to the door and smiled. "Now why would I do that?"

Bryan barred his fangs and yelled. "So I can kick your ass!"

The antennas on top of Red's head flattened and he stepped back, his smile morphing into a smirk. "You're a violent one, but of course I could expect that."

Loosening his grip on the bars, Bryan glared so hard into Red that he could have killed him if he actually had daggers. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh come one, I thought that was why you were mad. I mean you are Zephyre's son right?" Red sneered, enjoying watching the other squirm.

"So?" Bryan dropped his hands and turned his body at an angle so he wasn't facing Red directly.

Said Tallest only smirked that much more. "The violence, the screaming, short temper, anger issues, I've seen it all in one person before. Even the way you glare is the same."

"What are you getting at?" He hadn't noticed that his eyes were slits.

Red took one small step towards him. "You're brother, Zim."

Bryan hissed and lashed out at the other, stretching his claws out towards Red's face, but was just out of reach.

Seizing the opportunity, Red grabbed Bryan's wrist and twisted it around, making the owner of the hand sink to the floor. "I take it you're father lied to you." He let go and made his way to the front, whispering to the ComTech.

After a few seconds a screen popped up with Zephyre's face peering down at Red. "What do you want?"

Red smiled and stepped to the side, giving the other a clear view of his son. "Did you know that Bryan left the house?"

Zephyre's face contorted into that of rage and pure hatred. "You let my son go!"

"Yet you don't even care about the other! Just because he was taken from you doesn't mean he died!" Red yelled out loud, knowing he had upset him severely.

Bryan hissed again and looked at his father. "You lied to me! About everything! You told me I was an only child!"

Zephyre looked at Bryan and tried to change the subject. "You were supposed to be home days ago! Your mother is worried sick about you!"

"Is she worried about Zim too!? Or do you not even care if he's alive or dead!?" Bryan was slowly losing the last strand of sanity he had for the day.

"He's dead, Bryan." Zephyre's face softened and he looked away from anyone that was capable of looking in his eyes. "They took him in for training, to be a soldier. But he was weak, he would have never survived once he received a PAK, he was a natural born, just like you."

There was a long moment of silence where nobody knew what to say.

"No he's not." Noah said quietly from the back.

Zephyre's antennae perked up and he peered at the younger Irken. "What?"

"He's alive." he said a little louder, so he knew the other could hear him clearly.

Bryan looked at his father in disgust. "You knew he was dead?"

"How do you now this?" asked Zephyre, ignoring his son. "Have you seen him?"

Noah looked around and suddenly thought that what he was doing might not be a good thing to do. "He's... he's my dad."

Zephyre looked at him disbelievingly before cutting the transmission.

"Umm, Sir?" The ComTech turned his head and looked up at Red.

The Tallest, with a smile, looked down at the Irken below. "Yes?" he asked, in a somewhat kind voice.

The smaller Irken swallowed before stating his question. "Well now he knows that we have his son, won't he come after us?"

"Ha! He couldn't find us if he tried." Red smiled again, knowing what the next question would be. "And Bryan can't do anything either, he's my little pet now."

There was a loud hiss from the back. "I AM NOT YOUR PET!"

"Shut up!" Red yelled, smirking to himself.

* * *

Kasandra walked into the communications room and turned off the screen. While it booted up she busied herself with humming a short tune, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet. Once the screen loaded she typed in the address and waited for someone to appear.

"Hi!" Auzie's face lit up and she smiled. "How have you been?"

Kassy smiled back and sighed "Busy, real busy."

"Aww," Auzie ran a finger down her cheek. "How come?"

Kassy looked down at her feet and deeply sighed again. "Well, someone in the base turned out to be working for the Armada so they kidnapped Noah. Now we have to try to save him, we're leaving soon."

Auzie made a pouting face and stuck out her lower lip. "I'm sorry, I hope you find him."

"Me too. So what's going on at home?"

"Nothing much. Bryan still hasn't come home yet and for some reason Dad is really angry, but he won't tell me why! It's killing me!" Auzie balled her hands into fists.

Kasandra widened her eyes." Now now, there's no need to set things on fire."

"But... I want to!" Auzie dropped her hands and whined. "I haven't set anything on fire since that one time I almost destroyed the kitchen. So I've been deprived here!"

"Tch, no you haven't, that happened a few days ago!" Kassy said.

"Exactly!" Auzie replied, throwing her hands up in the air for effect.

Kasandra rolled her eyes and laughed to herself. She then opened her mouth to say something in return but there was a loud knock on Auzie's bedroom door.

Auzie turned around yelled at whoever was repeatedly pounding on her door. "It's open!"

The door swung open and Zephyre stepped into the room. "Auzie, we're leaving."

She looked up at her dad and opened her mouth, raising a finger.

"I don't have time for that, we have to go get your brother, he's gotten himself into trouble." Zephyre stepped in front of the computer and smiled at Kassy. "Hi Kasandra, how are things?"

"Well my dad and I had to go help out a friend with some business with the Empire, it's complicated. The other day one of our members got kidnapped so we're going to leave soon and track him down." Kassy let out a breath and smiled.

Zephyre looked at her sympathetically. "I'm sorry to hear that, I hope you find him."

"And I hope you find Bryan." Kassy smiled and waved as the transmission was cut. After the screen went blank she walked out of the room and entered the lift, riding the shaft up to the meeting room where everyone else was.

Zim was standing hunched over a table with a hologram of the Massive floating over the table's surface.

Dib, Aranarth, Zink and Aneera were crowded around the table next to him.

Dib was sketching out plans into a notebook he had with him, making maps and notes for himself.

Ara was scanning over the smaller ships around the outside, memorizing all defense systems and parole ships.

Zink was sitting on the table next to Ara and showed the weapons grid in more detail, pointing out hidden guns, lasers and tractor beams.

Aneera kept her mouth shut and stayed quiet, leaning on Zim for support since she had only woken up a few hours earlier. She cringed every so often when she shifted weight, holding her left side with her right hand, trying to ease the pain.

Kasandra had no real interest in planning with the adults, she knew she'd only get in the way and getting yelled and snapped at was not on her list of things to do. So to keep out of their way she went over to where Gaz and Gir was, her feet making small thump noises as she walked across the room.

Gaz was sitting on the floor with Gir in her lap, attentively watching her play her GS7 that she had gotten for Christmas.

"Hey guys." she said, sitting down next to Gaz and smiling at Gir.

"Hi elf lady!" Gir said back, grinning from one side of his face to the other. "Dib's scary sister is defeating the vampire piggies!"

"They shall all suffer." Gaz said shortly, as if she had never been more serious in her entire life.

Kassy nodded her head and just watched from then on, not wanting to experience Gaz's wrath first hand.

For the next hour or so the room was pretty much quiet, save for the ocassional loud comment, which usually died back down to a whisper.

After a while people began to leave the room and go to bed, yawing as they walked out. Dib was the first to go, having never been used to staying up very late. He carried Aneera out, arguing to her that she was not fit to walk all the way to her room on her own.

About another twenty minutes later Zink ended up dragging Gir out of the room with her, deciding that should he wake up chaos would ensue.

Kasandra's eyes began to get heavy and she kept rubbing them to keep them open. The room seemed to be getting darker and smaller as she grew sleepy. She stood up and leaned against the wall, waiting until she regained balance, wishing that the room would stop spinning so fast.

Gaz stood up next to her and silently left the room, closing and shutting down her GS7. Once she disappeared into the hallway the room seemed to lighten, as if a darkness that had once gripped the air had suddenly vanished.

Keeping as steady as she could, Kassy wobbled over to her dad and clung to him for support. She listened to her dad exchange a few more words with Zim before they said goodnight and she was carried out of the room and off to bed.

Zim stood in the room by himself, holding his head in his hands while he so desperately tried to think of a way to save his only child. His body was screaming at him to just give up and go to bed while his brain was screaming at his body to shut up.

There were light footsteps coming from down the hall, making Zim's antennae bounce along with the soft pitter patter. He stood up a little more and waited for whoever was there to either pass by the room or come in.

When the footsteps quieted and tall lanky figure stood in the doorway. Zim thought it was Dib at first, until he noticed to long skirt and bulky armor.

"Purple?" Zim's voice echoed against the walls and sure enough, Tallest Purple walked into the room.

"Who were you expecting?" Purple asked smiling.

Zim shook his head and smirked, looking down. "Since when do you walk? I thought the Tallest floated everywhere."

Purple's smile widened. "Well if you don't use 'em you lose 'em, right? Besides, its good exercise."

Once again hunching over the table, Zim continued to ponder on what he was going to do.

Purple sighed and gently put a hand on Zim's shoulder. "You do know you're an official Elite right?"

"So?" Zim asked, turning to face his Tallest. "It doesn't matter, Red has the entire Irken race under his fist! What am I supposed to do!?"

"Well first of all you need to get a grip. The only thing keeping you from concentrating is your temper." Walking over to the other side of the table, Purple shut off the hologram and walked out of the room.

Zim growled and ran after him, rounding the door and almost smacking into Purple. "Do you have any idea what's going on!?"

"Yes." Purple didn't move.

"I just lost my son! AGAIN! I can NOT afford to sit around and concentrate on controlling my temper!" Zim balled his hands into fists and glared at Purple with all he had.

Slowly, Purple turned around to face him. "Well then, Second Tallest, what do you plan to do?"

Zim stood up straighter and felt like the entire world was suddenly falling all around him. He fell to his knees and let his hands sit limply in his lap. "I don't know... I just want things to go back to the way they used to be."

"But that was the past, you're in the present now." Purple turned back around and continued on to his ship for the night.

* * *

"Come on! Keep moving!" The guard yelled, shoving Bryan out of the ship.

The hybrid snarled in annoyance while he stood protectively beside Noah. "Filthy guards." he muttered.

Red floated out behind them and looked at Bryan with a smirk. "You remember the Massive, don't you Bryan?" He laughed to himself and walked ahead of the group, showing them where to go.

The group fell silent as they walked through the halls, every now and then having an Irken bow at the sight of Noah, though waiting until Red passed so he wouldn't see.

Red stopped in front of a room with double doors. "Well here we are, your room." He opend the doors, revealing what a human would call a five star hotel suite.

Bryan's jaw dropped to the floor, he thought Red had lost his mind. "You're not putting us in a cell?"

"No, those are busy getting an upgrade from the last time a few Irkens got out." He glared at Noah, who in turn stuck out his tongue mockingly.

The guards roughly pushed the two into the room, locking the doors behind them.

"I want guards here at all times. If they escape it'll be your heads." Red then swiftly floated down the hall and around a corner, disappearing into the bowls of the giant vessel.

* * *

Aneera: I finished!

Zim: I have absolutely nothing to say to you.

Aneera: Good, then maybe you'll shut up for once.

Zim: ...... blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah!!!!

Aneera: But only I would be so lucky.


	34. So Yeah, We're Going Down

Bryan huffed and turned around, examining the room. It was lush, with fluffy furniture and a snack machine in every corner. The carpet was fuzzy and there was a huge monitor on the north wall. There was a bed around the corner with silk sheets and enormous pillows. Everything was either red, pink, purple or black. There was the

occasional green or white but nothing outside of that.

"AWESOME!" Noah jumped onto the large couch in front of the monitor and smiled. "I think I like being a prisoner! This is fun!"

Bryan shook his head. "Yeah, until they decide keeping you is worthless." He walked around to the side of the screen and looked at the wires and buttons. "Hey, that thing gets transmissions right?"

Noah shrugged his shoulders and turned it on. "Let me see." He scrolled through some menus and settings, having trouble translating since everything was in Irken. "Ugh, I hate this language. Wait, yeah it does."

"Good, it's probably cut off but I think I might be able to rewire it so we can send a message to somebody." Bryan pulled away the side panel and began to switch around the wires. "Okay, try it."

Noah typed in the address to the new base and waited, having a giant red frowny face on the screen. "Nothing."

Bryan cursed under his breath and continued to rearranged wires. "Try it now."

Once again Noah tried connecting to the network and got a red frowny face. "Still nothing."

"Well then screw that." He closed the panel and sighed, sitting on the couch by Noah's feet. "You wouldn't happen to have a PAK would you?" He watched Noah roll over, exposing his back. "Didn't think so."

"So what do we do?" Noah sat up and looked hopefully at the other Irken.

There was a moment of silence. "There's nothing we can do except wait and hope that someone comes to get us." He saw the frightened look on the smeet's face. "But I'm sure someone is on their way right now."

* * *

Dib was running down the halls, desperately searching for Zim. He'd been looking for ten minutes and he hadn't seen anyone except for Gir and Minimoose. He came to the end of the hall and rounded the corner, slamming into Zim and sending both Zim and himself to the ground.

"Dib!" Zim growled from the floor, rubbing his head.

Dib adjusted his glasses and smiled. "Sorry! I have something to tell you!"

Zim stood up and brought Dib with him, brushing himself off. "What?"

"Remember how you had to go to the moon and build a base!" Zim nodded. "My dad already built one! I gave him the blueprints for it and he sent a group up there to build it so you wouldn't have to!"

"... Oh. Thanks." Zim stared blankly at Dib, expecting something else.

Dib was bouncing up and down on his feet, waiting for Zim to burst with joy that he had one less thing to do. "Well! Did I do good!" His smile widened.

Zim blinked. "Um... yeah."

Dib slowed his bouncing, frowning at the one in front of him. "You're not bursting with joy."

"Oh, sorry. I'm just... thinking." Zim looked down and sighed. "I feel as though this is all getting out of hand. I don't know if i can do this."

"What!" Dib's face contorted as if he just died on the inside. "But, you're Zim! Of course you can-!"

Zim balled his hands into fists and growled. "That's just it! I'm Zim! I'm a screw up! A useless little defective! I can't! you all expect too much for me! And... everyone else is paying the price for what I did."

Dib took a step forward and put a hand on his shoulder. "You're not a scrwe up. If it wasn't for you we wouldn't be here. And nobody ever said you had to do this on your own. If you need help we're here for you." He smiled as Zim lifted his head.

"I..." Zim looked away. "I need your help."

"See?" Dib smiled wider. "Was that so hard? Now, what do you need us to do?"

* * *

"I want out of here!" Noah started to pound on the double doors, screaming at the guards he knew were standing outside. His hands throbbed and he wanted nothing more at that moment to beat someones face in.

Bryan sat on the couch and sighed, trying to think of something to do. With every pound on the doors he flinched, grimicing more every time. "It's not going to work! Give it a rest."

Noah fell against the door and slumped to the ground, heaving in anger. His eyes were strained and every few seconds his antennae twitched from the stress. "I want out... I want to go home."

"So do I, but I'm not pounding on the doors am I?" He stood up and walked over to the smeet, bringing him into his arms. He then carried Noah over to the bed and laid him down. "Go to sleep."

"But-" Noah started, but didn't have enough energy to continue. He closed his eyes and snuggled into the sheets, quickly falling asleep.

Once the lights in the room went out everything got quiet, the only noise was the mechanical sounds from the ship and the footsteps from the halls. The stars that could be seen from the only window in the room offered no light and since they were in a remote location in space there was no sun or planets to make up for it.

Bryan stayed up practicing the small amount of martial arts he knew, having no blades to use. He told himself he needed the practice but he truly was worried for the smeet, small and defenseless. At least he himself could fight to save his life while the other had to rely on others.

About five hours into the night, Bryan began to hear a very faint moaning noise. He took a defensive stance and stalked around the room, finding nobody but the small Irken laying on the bed.

Noah's breathing was slightly irregular and his chest was heaving for each breath. Most of his body was twitching with the sudden lack of comfort, which had been replaced with a throbbing ache through his whole body. With every passing second his moaning grew louder until his eyes shot open and he began screaming.

Without a clue as to what he should do, Bryan crawled into the bed beside Noah and began to talk to him. "What is going on? What's the matter?" He placed his hands on the sides on Noah's face. "Talk to me!"

Gasping for air, Noah gave a violent shriek, clawing at Bryan's hands and arms. "Make it stop! It hurts!"

"What does?" Bryan grabbed Noah's wrists and held him still.

"Everything, my insides, all of it! It hurts!" Jerking in every direction he could, Noah cried in pain and tears started to pour from his eyes.

Bryan's eyes widened and he pulled the smeet into his lap, holding him very still. He knew what this was, he'd seen it before. The gravity change from Earth to the ship was too much for is body, it was crushing him. Only if he was young and flexible enough would he be able to survive it, if his body couldn't adjust he would...

Noah wailed as Bryan held him tighter, barely able to hear the door open on the other end of the room. One of the guards came in, having only heard a faint yelling sound as the room was soundproof.

Bryan saw him instantly, growing enraged. He moved so most of his body was in front of Noah and let out a deadly screetch, barring his fangs and spreading his claws. He looked like a demon straight out of hell, ready to slaughter anyone who got too close to him.

Had the guard stayed to get more than a glance he probably would have died on the floor where he stood. Instead he bolted for the door and slammed it shut, panting for his life.

Once he was out Bryan went back to cradling the smeet, gently cooing and hushing him. He slowly laid down and put Noah in a more comfortable position.

The pain eventually grew to be too much for Noah to consciously deal with. His eyes closed and he quickly slipped back under into the darkness, his chest still heaving and his breathes turning to wheezes.

Bryan stayed with the boy all night, making sure that he was safe. He did admit to himself that he cared greatly for the Irken, it was his nephew after all. Though he couldn't help but feel just a little awkward while he was so close to the other. He couldn't really explain it, not even to himself.

After debating the feeling for another twenty minutes he curled up around the smaller form and sighed, every indication he had been tired completely obliterated. To better help Noah with his pain he gently stroked his antennae, wrapping his trench coat around him.

When Noah awoke in the morning he was shaking, his joints were sore and his whole body dully throbbed. His face was buried in Bryan's chest and his hands were curled up under his chin. He grew embarrassed to be so close to the other and moved away from him, sitting himself up.

Bryan awoke as Noah moved, slowly opening his eyes and watching. He noticed something odd about the smeet, he was different. He sat up and stared, not registering what had happened.

"Hi." Noah said awkwardly.

"You got smaller!" Bryan then remembered everything from last night. "How do you feel!"

Noah shuddered and flinched from the pain. "Not good... and my clothes don't fit anymore..." He looked down and saw that he was sitting in a pile of what used to be his old clothes. "I need a new uniform."

Bryan slowly nodded and got up, heading towards the door and giving it a loud knock. He waited as the guard slightly opened the door and hotly asked him what his problem was. Bryan quietly explained what had happened and asked for a new uniform, keeping his voice down as not to embarrass Noah any further.

The guard nodded his head and left down the hall, leaving Bryan to wait by the door. As the minutes passed Bryan grew impatient, it surely couldn't take more than a few minutes to require something so simple. Just as Bryan was about to strangle the other guard he heard footsteps down the hall.

"Here, now get back in the room!" The guard shoved the new uniform into Bryan's hands and shut the door in his face.

"Rude much!" he called, glaring at the door. Once he decided the door had been stared at enough he walked over to the bed and set the clothes in front of Noah. "This should fit better."

Noah looked down, then back up at Bryan. "Do you mind?"

Bryan blushed and turned around, picking up the old uniform and folding it neatly on the arm of the couch. He waited for a minute, rocking on his feet and looking about the room, which hadn't changed since the last time he looked at it.

Noah stood up and slid off the bed, seeing how functional it was and how well he would be able to move around in it. "Well it's not the same, but it'll do until Dad can make me another one." He stopped, suddenly unhappy. "When are we getting out?"

Bryan turned around and looked at Noah, honestly unsure of what to say. "I... don't know. I'd need a layout of the ship before we even start planning anything." He looked up thoughtfully and began to wonder around the room.

"I know who can get us a map of the ship... but she'd never hand one over." Noah sighed and crawled onto the couch.

"Hey, doesn't everyone that works on this ship have an ID card?"

"I don't think everyone does, but some people do." Noah didn't care enough to put any enthusiasm into what he said.

Bryan stopped and looked at the TV, there was an opening at the bottom. He walked over and knelt down to see better, running his finger along the opening. "These things double as computers too right?" He looked at Noah, who nodded boredly.

Sighing, Bryan stood up and crossed his arms over his chest, looking towards the door. The only way to acess the computer on the monitor would be with an ID, which was something that they didn't have.

There was a knock on the door, which opened slowly. Noah watched as Tak walked into the room. Her uniform had changed to something much more official looking. She walked with a certain level of superiority, looking unhappily at the two in front of her.

"Hello boys." she said, moving her hands to her hips. "It doesn't look like you two have done any damage, which is surprising." She turned to look at Noah. "What happened to you?"

Noah looked away and tried to ignore her.

"What do you want?" Bryan took a step forward and placed himself between Tak and his nephew.

Tak smiled. "I was just sent to check on you two. That's all." She moved to see Noah. "And uh, no one has been spotted, so it looks like nobody is coming for you guys. Which is unfortunate really, I was hoping to see some action, oh well."

Bryan glared looked her up and down, noticing a small card hanging from her belt. He stepped forward again and was in her face. "You'd be surprised."

"Oh really?" Tak didn't move away from him, but only glared harder. "Well even if they do come they'll be too late." She then turned and left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Nobody is coming for us? We'll never get out!" Noah fell forward into a pillow, hiding his face from the rest of the world.

Bryan smiled. "I wouldn't be so sure." He watched as Noah focused on him. He held up a small card in his hand and smiled. "Tak is about help us plan our escape."

* * *

Aneera: Ok, this is late too... so I'm sorry.

Zim: That's it? 'I'm sorry'?

Aneera: Well what do you want me to do? Bake everyone a pie!

Zim: ... Could you bake me a pie?

Aneera: NO!

Zim: Aww...

Aneera: So for those of you who haven't seen, I have a poll on my profile page and I NEED you guys to vote, okay? I would love you all forever!


	35. Evil Toasters

Zim assembled the group into one of the various rooms in the house's lower base, hoping to sort out the game plan for taking back Noah and hopfully destroying Red once and for all.

"Okay, there's a few ways we could do this, but no matter what happens Red needs to be dead before the Irken Armada reaches the planet's surface. Once that happens we're going to have a hell of a mess to clean up." Zim had his hands on the table that the group was congregated around, hunching over for more comfort.

Everyone in the room shifted, the thickening air circulating through everyone. The group on the floor-Gaz, Kasandra and Gir-were keeping their ears open but otherwise tried not to indulge themselves into the other's conversations if they could help it.

Everyone else, including Purple for once, was going over who needed to be where doing what. They couldn't all go in one direction, that would make killing them off way too easy, so to confuse the enemy they decided that splitting up and keeping tabs on everything would work best.

"Well since my dad built the base on the moon and he already has troops out there I can keep in touch and be ready when they hit." Dib peered over Ara to look at Zim for confirmation.

Zim tossed the idea around in his head, he hated for Dib to be there 'alone' without some help. "Should I send Gaz with you?"

"No, she should go on the Massive, her mad skills would be best suited there." Dib looked back to his sister and saw a deadly smirk play on the corners of her lips, she did have mad skills.

"I'm going to be leading the group going on the Massive... unless Purple wants to go too, then he'd be leading. But I need eyes and ears." Zim looked to Zink as if she posessed the answer.

She looked up and shifted her eyes. "I'm a weapon specialist... should I be on the Massive?"

Purple looked down at her and furrowed his brow in thought. "Since Tiz is leading the pilots and he'll be outside Zink can go in the Massive with you, she'll be more helpful in there anyways." he said to Zim, knowing that's what the other was thinking.

"True, but he'll by out at the moon defending from there, I need a team to fend off the little side cruisers by the Massive." Zim didn't have to look at anyone to get a response.

"I can do it." Ara smiled widely. "I've got a whole fleet and Kassie can come with me. We can cut you a path up there to save you time."

Zim played the scene out in his mind, rather liking how it was going. "So you, Kassie, Zink, Dib and Gaz are taken care of. Now what am I gonna do with Gir and you?" He shot a glance at Purple, knowing what he would say.

"Hey! What about me?" Aneera, having been leaning against Zim to keep her standing, had finally said something. She turned to her husband and glared fiercly. "I am NOT staying here while you and the rest of my family go out and risk your lives!"

"You are in no shape to go anywhere, you're staying here." Zim replied firmly.

She huffed and scowled harder. "This was only a casualty, I'll be-!"

"And look at what it did to you! I almost lost you! That casualty nearly cost you your life, I'm done taking chances like that." Turning his head, Zim showed that he was done talking about the subject, but Aneera, however, was not.

She let out a thin, long breath of air, hissing in anger. Her tail flicked behind her, followed by the rest of her body shaking. "I am coming with you whether you like it or not." She sunk to the floor on her paws and heavily padded out of the room, snapping her jaws as she left.

Auzie groaned as she slipped into her suit, not having been told why she was being made to go through this gruelling process, it was like putting on spandex, only worse. Once she had slipped into her boots and gloves she faseted her ruby encrusted belt around her waist and made for the door.

She moaned the whole time she descended the stairs, wanting to brutally slaughter the idiot who invented skin-tight. As she entered the living room she saw her mother pacing the floor, both hands over her mouth.

"Come here." Zephyre beckoned her to come towards him and he waited as she did so. "Listen to me, where we are going is dangerous and I can't afford to lose you too, okay? I need you to be extra diligent and alert, got it?"

Auzie sighed and nodded, taking the belt-matching necklace from her father and bowing her head so he could fasten on her head piece. "So where are we going?"

Zephyre looked at her and said, "You'll find out when we get there." He then motioned for her to go get in the ship and wait for him there while he talked to her Auzie had disappeared he walked over to the woman pacing the room. "Jaxie?" She didn't look. "I'll bring him back, I promise. Soon this will all be over and we can forget it ever happened."

She turned to him, her amathyst eyes filled with certain doubt. "That's what you said the last time."

"UGH! This is taking forever!"

Bryan winced, however nice the boy was his voice could be excrutiatingly irritating at times. And it wasn't his fault that the stupid Irken technology was so darn complicated!

"You've said that seventeen times in the last hour! I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME! Now shut up." Bryan smiled as Noah sunk into the couch due to the unexpected show of aggravation.

"Well you don't have to be loud."

Another five minutes or so went by and Bryan continued to grow more frustrated at the rediculously complex machine that he was trying so desperately to get to work by putting himself in the most uncomfortable of positions. For whatever reason, technology in general had this festering hate towards him and only wished to give him a hard way to go, even the simple toaster tried its very best to make his already unpleasant mornings all the more caustic; every setting he ever put it on only equalled black toast.

Trying to shove aside the grousome thoughts, Bryan took a deep breath and smacked his head against the computer, hoping that if it didn't kill him, he would at least be unconscious. But, as technology would have it as it hated him so, it did neither of these things, however, he did manage to get the stupid thing to work.

"HA! Take THAT technology!" he shouted, wincing from the excrutiating pain that had been so unfairly inflicted upon him. He shoved the ID card into the small slot on the bottom of the TV computer, getting instant access to Tak's entire profile and every bit of information that had anything to do with her. It even listed that one time she tripped in one of the hallways with a tray full of snacks while she was a maid on the Massive, trying to get her job back after Zim blew her into space.

Noah smiled and tried to contain his immense happiness, rapidly shaking his fists and biting his lower lip while his eyes scrunched from the smile that seemed to consume his face.

As he flipped through Taks' personal file he found everything from her bio and history to her status and current profession. As he dug deeper into her personal information he found their escape, a complete map of the Massive. "I found it!"

"Shh!" Bryan slinked over to the door and pressed his head against the cool metal door. "They might hear you..."

Noah rolled his eyes and clicked on the little 'PRINT' button on the bottom of the screen. As the blueprints his the floor Bryan dove and snatched them up.

"Ah-ha!" He scanned over the paper, finding their location, the prison chambers, the confiscated items lab and the Tallests' secret chambers.

As Noah watched Bryan look over the map a thought occurred to him. "So... how do we get out?"

Zim sat criss-cross in front of his commmunications console, yawning as he flipped through his contacts. His finger lazily scrolled across the touchpad and his eyes flicked from name to name.

Aneera was curled up on the floor beside him and had been sleeping most of the day, trying to heal and rest herself as much as possible so that maybe she could prove to Zim that she was more than capable of going.

As the minutes ticked by, Zim began to nod off every few seconds. Before he decided to go to bed he passed by Tiz's name and thought a quick check in might be a good idea. He sent a transmission and sat back, waiting for a reply and hoping that he hadn't gone bed or anyhting yet.

The screen flickered to life and Tiz's bright blue eyes were wide awake and in a state of panic. "ZIM! I'm so glad you called! We need to talk, like NOW!" By now Tiz was flailing and yelling out random bits of jumbled up Irken and English.

Puting his hands up to calm his distressed friend, Zim yawned and shook his head. "Slow down, my brain can't move that fast between languages."

"Gah! I can't slow down! We need to get moving! NOW! You need to get everyone together and get going!" Tiz had once again began to freak out.

Zim sat up straight and gave him a questioning look. "What are you talking about?"

Tiz's face began to turn red with anger. "Do you not understand me!" He was serious now. "The Massive is on the move! Unless you want your precious planet to be DESTROYED then you need to MOVE! Get your group and get going! You have less than 48 hours! I expect an hourly report." The screen went blank and all was quiet.

Zim's brain was only moving at half the speed it usually does and it took about three seconds for everything to register. He sprang to his feet and and yelled, "Get up!"

The happily sleeping Aneera jolted her head awake and gave a yawn, flicking her tail in agitation. She watched as Zim activated the base alarms and the deffening siren made them both wince as their state of awareness was not all that great.

Once Aneera understood what was going on she darted out the door and began to bellow a roar to get everyone up and moving faster.

Once the two were up in the house level the group of people were yelling in confusion, trying to talk over the siren. Purple was sitting calmly in the couch, having already figured what was going on, but liking to watch the amusement unfolding before him as the human and Irkens alike were all a jumbled mess.

Zim silenced the alarm but left the red light on, not wanting to turn on the rest of the house lights. "QUIET!" he screamed, making the scence turn into one of those silent, still motion pictures. "I know it's the middle of the night and we're all tired, but it's time to move. We have 48 hours do our job! MOVE!"

There was a scramble of people as they left to the lower levels of the base to prepare. Aneera left with Zink to suit up as the others did, knowing that Zim's rule had been no more than an hour to ready themselves.

"Dad, where are we going?"

Zephyre pulled up a map of the Massive, thinking that she wouldn't recognize it. The thought crossed his mind, she wouldn't know what it was because they had shut her out.

Ever since the war they had shut him out and when she came along she was no exception. They didn't know hardly anything about their own race or where they came from. It was supposed to be a form of protection, to make sure they they didn't find out. It was cruel, he admitted, that they were so unknowing, but it was for the best.

"Oh, why are we going to the Massive?" Auzie leaned forward to speculate its size.

Zephyre stiffened and turned to look at her oddly.

"I've only ever heard stories of how big it was, but I don't know what it does." she said honestly, sinking down in her seat.

"Well it's dangerous, so I need you to be extra careful ok?" Zephyre turned back around and coninued in their direction, the Massive a faint spec in the distance.

Zim ran down the halls, yanking on his gloves as he rounded the corner. He already had his full body armor suit on, checked his weapons, ran a diagnostic on the Voot, and everything was packed and ready to go. But he felt like there still was so much to do and nowhere near enough time.

As he carelessly burst into the nearest room he practically fell over as he slammed into Purple. "Gah!" He steadied himself and looked up. "Sorry."

Purple looked down, a smirk on his face. "Slow down, you're going to hurt yourself. There's plenty of time." He put a hand on Zim's shoulder as he exited the room.

Zim watched him leave and sighed, deciding to see where he ended up. Aneera was standing on a large, round platform as Zink fitted her with her armor, already having most of it on. The last to go on was the saddle, the protecter plates for her neck and the headpiece.

"Hey! Where have you been?" Zink clumsily mounted Aneera's shoulder and finished securing her saddle, beckoning Zim over to make sure it fit.

"I've been busy like everyone else." He walked over to Aneera and looked her over. "Where do I sit?"

Zink rolled her eyes and pointed to her hind legs. "You climb up here and lay down." She made a shooing motion with her hands and pushed him forward. "Well go on!"

Hesitantly, Zim climbed up and laid down, situating himself so he was comfortable. He sat patiently as Zink fixed his potition, putting his feet and hands where they needed to be and looking over her handywork.

"Well thank Irk you fit. Now when you sit up there's a spot in between her shoulders above the wings. However, I recomend laying down when flying or else you're head might come off, okay?" Zink motioned for him to get off and she continued to dress Aneera in her armor.

Aside a few grunts of displeasure and a flick of the tail, Aneera was quickly dressed in her neck guard and helmet. Zink stepped back and admired her work of art as Aneera glistened in the red light of the siren and moved with such grace and fluidity.

Purple then came bursting into the room, a serious look on his face with armor to match. "Are you all ready yet! We need to go!"

Aneera flared her wings and pushed herself onto her hindlegs, shrinking down into her Irken body. Everyone looked at Purple as Zim gave a confirming nod.

Aneera: Haha! I has finished! This be awesome!

Bryan: NO! Why! Why does technology hate me sooo!

Aneera: Because I demand it!

Bryan: You... are a very rude person.

Aneera: I even drew a comic for it! Which will be on my deviantART soon!

Carly: Bitches be ALL up in mah potatoe salad!


	36. Enter The Massive

Purple looked at their faces, suddenly overcome with joy. For a few thousand years they had turned the Irken race into an army of emotionless clones, bound by their artificial intelligence to some sort of greater power that was not registered as being something to able to disobey. But now to see free thinking and feeling Irkens was something that both upset and overjoyed Purple. To think that he had anything to do with the degrading and total obliteration of the true Irken species made him sick, but to see that the Old Ways are coming back filled him with pride.

"I want to thank you all. I never thought I'd live to see the Day of Rebellion... I remember how Miyuki used to tell stories of what would happen because of what we were doing, and she was right... about everything. What we did was wrong, but I'm willing to fight with you until it's right again. Whatever happens today happens because it's supposed to, because it's going to change the collective consciousness and turn us back to where we should be. So thank you, for everything. And... I never thought I'd say this, but Zim, thank you for being a nuisance."

Zim smiled sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders. "Heh, yeah, I guess you're welcome... And thank you for understanding... not many people would."

Purple smiled and surveyed the room one last time. "Alright then, grab your weapons, board your ships and let's go take back our pride."

Everyone scrambled out of the room and darted in different directions, leaving the room empty except for Zim and Aneera.

Zim turned to look at the other, feeling his squeedlyspooch drop to the pit of his gut. He walked over to her and pulled her into his arms. "I love you..." He could feel her gently hugging him back. "I know that I haven't always been the best... but I do the best I can." He pulled back to look at her face, hoping that it would make him feel at least a little better.

She smiled up to him and twitched her antennae. "I love you too. And like I told you before, I don't care how imperfect you are. Besides, you'll always be good enough for me."

Ever since Zim had first realized he was defective he became so convinced that those words would be the only thing that could make him happy again, but now that he'd heard them they didn't change the way he felt at all. He could hear his emotions screaming at him, telling him to accept what he's wanted for so many years, but even though he believed it consciously he just couldn't truly feel its worth.

He didn't say anything back, too afraid he'd hurt her feelings with whatever happened to come out of his mouth. He felt so ashamed of himself, he knew that he could never return her love to where it satisfied him, but he couldn't even hardly accept what was given to him. It wasn't pride, he was sure of that, but there was nothing else he could compare his feeling to.

Aneera snapped her fingers in front of his face, bringing him back down to Earth. "You spaced out, what's wrong?"

Zim blinked a few times and let the room come back into focus. "Sorry, I'm just trying to clear my head. I still can't really accept the face that this is all happening."

If the sound of footsteps hadn't interrupted her, Aneera would have continued and prodded the real reason out of him, knowing he wasn't telling her everything. But she knew time was passing by all too quickly for them to squander it, so she gave him one last smile and dragged him out of the room and into the mess of scrambling bodies.

* * *

Bryan had been pacing to room for most of the day, answering to nothing and no one for absolutely anything. Right now keeping his thoughts on track with escaping their imprisonment was the one thing he was trying to concentrate on. After finding out just recently that Noah's home planet was about to be destroyed he'd tried to push his brain to work three times as fast without having it completely implode in on itself.

Having absolutely nothing better to do, Noah had been hanging upside down off the edge of the bed, waiting until the rush of blood would cause him to see spots at the very least. He'd been in the position for over an hour and his vision was getting blurry, but he saw no spots.

"You know, if you keep that up you're gonna pass out." Bryan stopped for a moment to make sure the boy was still well enough to at least respond. He did get a faint nod which was plenty good enough for him, so he continued to pace the room.

Eventually Noah gave up and realized that he wasn't going to see spots before he blacked out, so he slid off the bed and went into the other room to get something to eat. Even though there must have been snacks in every corner and on every wall of the room he couldn't seem to fine something to suite his fancy.

He huffed his way to the couch and threw himself onto the cushions, letting out an unnecessarily loud groan of boredom. "Something needs to happen!" he yelled, hoping that some miraculous even would suddenly occur.

Bryan growled, a spur of curses spilling from his lips as he stomped angrily at the ground. "I've gone over everything! Unless the guards just let us out we're screwed!" He flopped onto the couch next to Noah and hissed, his hands tangling in his hair.

There was a loud bang on the door that sounded very unfriendly. "Hey!" yelled a voice, pounding on the door more fiercely. "Red has requested you so get yourselves presentable! Kyruh!"

The two on the couch looked at each other, Bryan instatnly seeing an opening for escape.

As they stood they could hear the guard shuffling around outside the door impatiently. They hurriedly straightened themselves out and made sure they were clean, wanting to make a good impression at least.

Once the two boys were cleaned up and looked as nice as they were going to get they knocked on the door, letting the guard know they were ready. When he opened the door he handcuffed them both and jerked them out of the room, slamming the door shut behind them.

"I don't want either of you getting any ideas, these cuffs will electrocute you within an inch of your lives, if you're lucky." He smirked to himself and gave them another swift jerk, watching as they tensed up in surprise. He laughed deeply and listened to them sneer at him, loving his job. As they headed down the hall there was a loud bang that sounded to their right. It sounded far away, but large.

* * *

The group had fled the base and was racing into space, breaking the atmosphere around them. Zim had taken the lead with Zink and Dib flanking him, Purple bringing up the rear with Ara.

They would have been halfway to the Massive minutes ago if they were going faster, but everyone behind Aneera had to compensate for her almost crippled state. Whatever dragon species she was wasn't built for flight on such a densely atmoshpered planet, and the fact that her previously thick, flexible skin between the fingers of her wings had been ripped to shreds and then put back together gave her no advantage.

It never mattered how hard or fast she beat her wings against the resistant air she only seemed to be slowing down. Normally it never would have been painful, but the stray tears that flew from her eyes was enough to tell her that if wasn't able to push herself any farther they might not make it in time.

That thought alone was plenty enough, however, to push her through the last layer of air that surrounded Earth, her body suddenly feeling like half its own weight. She floated for a split second, and the heat from a laser bullet that flew within an inch of her face jerked her back to the present.

The Massive wasn't too far off, two, three minutes tops if they hurried. She yelled, flared her massive wings and bolted forward towards the ship, moving with the speed she was built for. Everyone behind her followed suit and charged the oncoming attackers, effectively shooting down any ship that came within range.

As they passed the moon Dib branched away and joined the ground forces. Zink, who Gaz as co-pilot, split with purple and let Aneera blink out of the vision of the enemy. She sped past the small battle cruisers, sending small sparks at the engines, having them blow to pieces without anyone, including the ignorant pilot, being able to take a second glance at the attacker.

* * *

Auzie sat impatiently in the back of her father's ship, watching as the Massive grew closer and closer, they were so close she could almost hear the pained screams ripping from the nearly deceased. The more she squirmed the more her father uselessly tried to get her to calm down.

As they came up on the rear of the enorouse vessel a loud beeping bounced off the walls. An onboard video screen manifested on the control panel. The Irken that appeared was thin with long, thick antennae and bright blue eyes.

"This is Fleet Commander Tiz, what is your business here?" Tiz looked perplexed at Zephyre, curious almost.

"I'm here on private terms." he replied, glancing back up at the raging war.

Tiz narrowed his eyes in frustration, pursing his lips. "I can't let you pass safely until I know your business, if you fail to cooperate I'll shoot you down. Now tell me your business."

Zephyre sighed and let his dart away for an instant. When he looked back up at Tiz the pilot's face was turning red, obviously not wanting to waste anymore time. "My name is Zephyre, I'm an ex-Elite for the Irken Armada. I'm here because Red has my youngest son in custody while my oldest is probably out there getting himself killed!"

Tiz's mood seemed to lighten up a little, understanding the feeling well as Zim was pretty much on the same mission. "Which son is on the Massive?"

"Bryan."

Tiz didn't recognize the name, figuring he was one of the defectives that had gotten away. "Who's out here on the battlefield?"

"Zim."

Tiz's eyes widened with astonishment, not knowing if he should take the statement seriously. "You're joking." he finally said, his face going stern again.

"What reason would I have for lying!" Zephyre's face was almost as red as Tiz's had been a moment before. "I'm not here to argue with you."

With a scoff, Tiz crossed his arms and quirked an antennae. "I know Zim personally, the only family he has is his wife and son, I promise you that if he had any other members I'd know about it."

Zephyre deadpaned for a minute, only hearing the middle of the sentence. Wife? Son? "Look, I would love to explain our complicated relationship but I've got more than one son in danger, at least let me to the Massive."

Tiz looked away to contemplate his situation, deciding that he could tell Zim after he was sure his "father" was inside the Massive. "Alright, fine. You can go to the Massive, but I'll be watching." With that the transmission cut and Zephyre turned to Auzie, who had stopped moving entirely.

"There's... there's TWO OF THEM!" she shreiked, pulling at her antennae. "Why! Why me! I'm a good person! Right! I don't deserve this!"

* * *

Zim had long quit trying to fight while they were still in space, not being able to push himself up far enough to strike a blow since they were moving far too fast, pancaking him to Aneera's back.

As she went to spiral around one of the cruisers Zim heard his little mic crackle, hearing Tiz's voice practically inside his head.

"Uh, Zim... we have a problem."

"TIZ! I can't talk right now! Can't it wait!" Zim struggled to keep hold at she spun upside-down, straining his neck with force.

"No! It can't! There was a unidentified Irken ship that entered the battle scene and when I demanded to know why he was here he said he had come for his two sons. I asked who they were and he said-!" The mic shut off and went to static, they lost the signal.

Zim couldn't worry about him right now, he had more important things to think about, but those thoughts, too, were jammed out of his head as Aneera smashed into the side of the Massive.

* * *

Bryan and Noah slammed against the wall as the ship rocked with the intense force of the blow, the guard only staggering to the side. He yanked the two back to their feet harshly, making the both of them grunt as their wrists strained against the cuffs. They continued down the hall quicker, the guard making them walk twice as fast.

There was another bang and the ship jerked to the side, sending all three to the ground with a loud smack as they hit the ground roughly. This time Bryan made no hesitation, raising his right leg and positioning it over the guards head, bringing it down in an axe kick. The satisfactory sound of the guards skull cracking had him snatching the keys from his belt, quickly deactivating the cuffs.

"Come on, we have to hurry." Bryan scopped Noah up in one arm and took off down the hall, not looking back at the certain mob that was sure to manifest itself. There was another bang and the ship was sent rocking back and forth, making Bryan slide across the floor, cursing under his breath. "I really wish they'd stop!"

* * *

Aneera dodged another wave of energy as it smashed into the ship, causing it to shift and jerk. She had been hanging about the docking station while the bigger ships of Tiz's fleet attacked the doors, trying to pry them open, wanting to be the first one inside.

As the fourth shot was fired the surge of electricity that lined the door frame told them its locking gears had been fried. Aneera charged the ship and dug her claws into the thick metal shell, prying the door open. There was another surge and the door began to open on its own. She snuck her nose under the gap as it widened, squirming to get through, bellowing as the circuits caught her scales.

Once she managed to work her way in Zim was practically thrown from her back and slid along the ground towards the small group of technitions waiting by the door. As he twisted and jumped to his feet he swung his baton across their midsections, sending them all to ground.

Aneera shrunk to her smaller form and darted for the door, pushing a small silver button by the frame. A wall of energy cut of a portion of the station from space, filling it with oxygen. She took a deep breath as the door slid open, letting her slip by into the Massive with Zim on her heels.

* * *

The small ship crashed through the energy shield, ladning at the edge of the giant wall. The hood opened up and Auzie popped out with her haised poised in fron of her, ready to attack anyone who so much as looked her way. Her father then emerged with a small electron blade fastened to his forearm.

"Alright," Auzie started. "Who do I _not_ shoot?"

"Uhm, you're brother or anyone who's fighting soldiers with uniforms." With that he took the lead and headed through the door into the giant ship, hearing the clanging of footsteps behind them.

* * *

Bryan rounded the corner, and saw the large glass double doors at the end of the hall. He ran after it, ducking and swerving as laser bullets shot past his head and feet. As she reached the doors he put his left shoulder forth and broke through the glass, shattering it into little glittering shards. He threw Noah into a concealed corner and jumped to the back table, instantly seeing the glistening silver metal. With one quick movement he maneuvered both blades into his fists, pivoting on his foot to face the soldiers behind him.

They two soldiers stooped short and watched in awe as he bolted into the air, bring one blade each across their throats as he fell graceful back to the ground. Blood spurted from their necks and flew outwards, splattering the walls in little droplets. He turned back to Noah and held an arm out. "Come on! We can't stay here!"

Noah looked at him with horrified eyes, then threw his fists in the air as he ran to him. "That was AWESOME!"

Bryan once again sped off down the hall, heading straight for the Tallest's Comm room.

* * *

Auzie found an abandoned hallway and stopped, hanging her head low and quirking her antennae. "I can... I can smell him... I think." She held both of her arms out, angling her hands downwards. "Wait... That's... Yeah... It's him."

Zephyre looked at her confused, she was always sure when it him, why not now...? _Zim..,_ He thought. _It's throwing her off._ "Just follow it!"

The small girl didn't argue or take another moments pause, dashing down the hall as quickly as she could, keeping her eyes alert and fists ready at her sides. As she flew across the metal flooring she could smell it, it came flying at her with amazing speed, but it was all wrong. There was the semi-familiar odor that she recognized to well, but it was all mixed up in something else... something dark and salty sweet.

The two rounded the corner quickly, ready for guards to come attacking them head on as they sped down the halls. But just as Auzie had skidded around the corner and was dead center in the hall and massive black figure make a quick attempt to fly over her, expanding outwards on both sides. Auzie watched it pass over her head, turning to try and get a glimpse of the figure as it was suddenly behind her. As she turned she could just catch the tail end flicking around the corner at the other end of the hall.

"What was that?" Auzie rubbed her antennae to make sure they were still attached to her head.

Zephyre knew that smell well, it wasn't Bryan, almost, but not quite. "I don't know, maybe someone from the resistance."

Auzie spun to face her father. "Didn't you see the size of that thing! I thought you said the resistance was mostly Irken, that was NOT Irken! That was-!... Well I'm not quite sure _what_ that was... but it sure wasn't green!"

He shrugged his shoulders innocently and pointed to a connecting corridor down a little ways. "That way."

"What? Why?" Auzie tilted her nose upwards a little and sniffed. "It's not down there... the hall doesn't connect. Besides, the smell was mixed in with that... thing. We have to follow it." Just as she finished her sentence she jerked her head to the right, catching another whiff of something. Something feminine... and _evil_.

* * *

Red sat in his respectful chair in the communications room, angrily tapping his fingers against the arm rest. His eyes were narrowed as the video feed from the security cams were playing on the giant screen in front of everyone.

There were nine in total, covering the most populated or used areas in the Massive. Five were just showing guards patrolling, two were showing the prison cells, one was showing a long hallway where a fight was mostly off screen and the last turned static just as soon as Red looked at it.

"What was that?" He pointed to the middle right camera feed, waiting to see if it would come back online. When a full minute passed and nothing happened he looked at one of the ComTechs. "Pull up the feed for SC14-9, it should be the one for the whole of sector four."

When a link was established with the cam the ComTech switched the feed to full screen and watched. After about eight seconds a tall, lithe figure sprinted into the large open area, clad in a long, flowing black coat and impressive looking boots. One hand was wielding a blade while the other was obscured from view.

Red leaned in a little closer, knowing exactly who it was. "Track him down. I want him bound, chained and broken."

Two rather muscled Irkens trooped out of the room and followed orders. It took about five minutes before they appeared on screen with Bryan, taking the liberty of showing who exactly it was that was going to bring him down.

Bryan, however, was not amused in the slightest, pulling one of his two blades out from under his belt, poising to strike. He watched the two guards before him, they weren't any taller than him, but way more filled out. He could visibly see their muscles ripple beneath their uniforms, instantly knowing that he needed to trike first, and strike lethal.

He charged the pair, tucking Noah under his coat as he whipped his blade in front of him from the far left to the far right. The speed had caught both of the others off guard, not expecting him to be so light on his feet.

As Bryan brought the blade back to him a thin line of blood flew from the necks of the dead Irkens, pooling around their heads as they laid on the floor.

* * *

The halls that Dib sprinted down were dimly lit, a strip of lights on either side of the hall on the floor and an overhead light every twenty yards. The orange glow made the boy look less pale and emphasized his round face, also making him look twice as tall as any Irken there.

The base him and Zim had designed was fully built and operational, with only a few minor kinks here and there. All of the equipment worked just fine and they were in touch with every Irken that was fighting with them, which was quite a lot.

Dib never knew there were so many of them that were ready to abandon heir own race because of what they had been put through. The Irken race was, as a whole, a very violent and racist species, but so much so that those who society had rejected had banded together, forming their own society against the Aramada's.

He still wasn't sure where Zim had found all the Irkens that were currently running around the halls, but he was jsut greatful they at least had help. Otherwise, Earth would have been done for and possibly enslaved.

As he rounded a corner Dib almost fell into one of the taller Irkens, catching himself by grabbing the corner of the two adjoining halls. As he raised a hand to straighten out his askewed glasses he could make out who he'd nearly knocked over.

"God Dib! Watch where you're going why don't cha!" The female righted herself and readjusted her files and papers, which had also nearly ended up all over the floor.

Dib stood perfectly still, his brain suddenly going on vacation. "Tak...?" he asked, almost not sure if he was completely seeing right.

"Idiot." Tak replied, ramming into his shoulder as she passed by. She was almost out of reach of the human when he caught her by the arm.

"What are you doing here! Shouldn't you be with Red trying to kill us!" He glared at her, tightening his grip.

She huffed and stared so intensely into the wall Dib thought it was going to burst into flames. When she finally did look at him he flinched, his mind making him think his blood had actually started to boil. "That really is no business of yours. All you need to know is that I have specific permission from Zim, ok? I'm _allowed_ to be here." She yanked her arm away from him while emphasizing the word 'allowed'.

* * *

The screams of terror that emanated from the smaller Irkens was what Aneera liked the most, watching them flee away from the wall of fire that chased after them, but never quite making it.

She been tracking down multiple Irkens at one time, following whichever became closer. A few times she had been mislead by the smell of fresh blood, always finding large quantities strewn about in certain halls and rooms.

It was obvious that whoever was doing the damage was either their ally or just another enemy of Red. At first they just regarded it as one of Gaz's horrible killing techniques, until they remembered that she didn't possess a blade, which had been used in the slaughters. Eventually, after finding so many, they just decided to let the matter alone, Aneera getting used enough the smell of blood that she could avoid it.

At one point they had actually met up with Gaz, finding her in a large room already filled with blood and dead bodies. Zim had gotten to his feet to take a closer look, once again finding that the work belonged the the mysterious killer no one knew about.

"Who is this guy? And why is he killing everyone before I get to them!" Gaz huffed and stamped her foot against the ground in frustration, hating when all of the good kills were found to be taken. "When I find them I'm going to give them a piece of my mind!" After that she had stormed out the door, driving her gun down the throat of the nearest Irken she could find, giving him a stomach full of plasma.

She continued down the halls, mumbling horrible things under her breath. If he thought he could just show up and start a massacre then he certainly had another thing coming, she'd make sure of that.

For the next twenty minutes she mindlessly killed anyone who she saw, which came to be a total of four short, scrawny Irkens who had _no_ business fighting. After screaming to the heavens how dead this guy was she quit killing people and started interrogating them. She had caught a medium sized Elite, at least someone worth killing in the end, and shoved him against a wall.

He winced and wriggled in her grip, his feet dangling in the air while his hands clawed at hers, which were busy crushing his throat.

"Who's the JERK killing everyone off! I haven't had a good kill in the last half hour! I wanna know where this guy is!" She hissed at the quivering alien, watching happily as his skin began to visibly crawl.

"I don't know! I don't know! I haven't seen him! Nobody who sees him lives! I-I swear!" He swallowed hard and pleaded for him life.

Of course, Gaz was not at all ready to let this juicy little Irken off so easily. He too received a stomachs worth of plasma and an extra dose of hate. As his body slowly stopped convulsion she heard some guy scream on the hall parallel to hers, taking off immediately.

He didn't scream for very long, only suffering for a half second. But that gave Gaz more than enough time to find the killer, skidding around the hall just in time to trap him there.

His head turned sharply towards Gaz, crouching into a defensive stance. The trench coat that fell from his shoulders draped around whatever he was holding in his left hand.

"FINALLY! Look here ass, I don't know who you think you are but I swear to GOD that when I'm through with you you'll look ten times worse than all those you killed put together!" Gaz charged him, switching out her gun for a nice, long electric baton that Zim had been kind enough to loan her.

The other kicked off backwards and fall flat on his back, the smaller Irken he'd been holding smacking into the wall to his left.

"Gaz! DON'T" Noah cried, effectively stopping the evil girl in mid jab.

Bryan raised both feet and kicked her backwards, scooping Noah back up into his arm and crossing the blade in front of him. "You know this freak?"

"She the sister of my dad's best friend, therefore, you may NOT kill her!" Noah reached out and, with his tongue stuck out in pure concentration, he tried to pry Bryan's fingers from his blade. "I... can do this!" But eventually he realized that nothing was happening.

"Well I don't care who you think she is, I don't trust her." Bryan slipped his blade under his belt and continued onward, leaving Gaz behind to fume.

"Hey wait a minute!" She stomped down the hall behind them, clenching her fists with rage. "I was given specific orders to get Noah to safety! You can't just run off with him! YOU AREN'T HIS FAMILY YOU WEIRDO!"

Bryan stopped walking and his body stiffened, his body becoming heavy and cumbersome. He spun around on his heel and was two inches from the girl's face. "Then take me to them!"

Gaz blinked, her left eyes slightly twitching. "Fine."

* * *

Aneera: *dies* Months... It's been MONTHS! I don't deserve to LIVE! I NEED TO DIE! *cries in a corner*

Author: ... While my somewhat alter ego is having a mental breakdown I'm going to apologize for the wait, it's been a while since I've had enough motivation to work on this between school and watching Soul Eater...

Zim: You guys forgot about me...

Authir: Not... completely...

Zim: *cries* YES YOU DID!

Aneera: SHUDDUP! You have no RIGHT to cry! *continue to ball eyes out*

Zim: ... That's gross...


	37. The Dead Truth

Bryan carried a blade in his right hand and stayed well behind Gaz, always keeping her in his line of vision. She was brutal and an excellent killer, he had to admit, but he wouldn't trust her, not yet.

As the two rounded a corner into an abandoned corridor and side-stepped the fallen bodies, the walls of ship began to vibrate as a bellowing roar exploded through the air.

Noah's head perked up, twitching his antenna to the right, picking up a faint muffled snarl. "Mom..." he whispered, feeling the weight of impending doom leave his shoulders instantly. As they came to the end of the hall he jerked his head to the right and peered down the corridor, hoping to see the familiar black figure bound into view.

"This way." Gaz took off, pulling out her gun. "It'll be a bloodbath down there."

Bryan stopped and gawked at her, half thinking she was crazy. "Are you kidding me? Did you hear that... _THING!_"

"Hey!" Noah elbowed him in the ribs and hissed at him. "Don't call her that!"

"... _her_?"

Gaz huffed and twisted back to scowl at him. "You'll find out." Without another word she marched off down the hall, not looking back to see if they followed or not.

With reluctance in his step, Bryan kept pace with her, blade at the ready. The closer they got to the sounds of screaming the more he wanted to plunge head-on into the brawl.

"Get down!" Gaz grabbed the front of Bryan's coat and jerked him to the floor, covering her head as a bright red ring of fire cut through the air above them.

Bryan looked up and followed the razor-like flame, watching as it engulfed a soldier a few hundred yards down the hall. His head whipped back around towards the killer, his eyes fixating on a small, thin female. "Auzie!"

She stared back at him, her blank expression turning to a snarl. "Where _HAVE_ you been! Dad and I have been looking everywhere for you!" She put her hands on her hips and leaned in closer as he stood up.

Gaz stood with him and pointed the plasma gun at the girl's head. "Who are you?"

Auzie looked at the end of the gun and back up at Gaz, gently wrapping her hand around the tip. The metal began to sizzle and melt, creating a small puddle on the floor at Gaz's feet. "Auzie... Don't ever point a gun at me... _ever_."

"Alright, that's enough."

* * *

Aneera sprinted down the halls, her padded feet making deep thudding noises against the metal. They didn't come across soldiers often anymore, as most were dead, but the few they did run into were either ripped in half, electrocuted or set on fire.

Zim could actually count the number of soldiers they saw on his fingers, until they got to the first sector of the ship where the ComRoom was. After that they poured in from everywhere, and at one point Zim thought they were coming from the ceiling.

They had debated on setting the whole corridor ablaze, but decided that blowing the ship up wasn't a great idea. Instead they settled for mauling and beheading, throwing in an occasional exploding mini bomb they found laying around.

It didn't take but three to four minutes before the soldiers were all dead, piled neatly in a corner amongst a pool of blood. They had put the bigger ones on the bottom, saving the scrawny, bony ones for the top.

Aneera licked her snout and pawed the rest of the stray droplets off her. Once she had flicked her tail clean she took off down the hall, leaving behind a trail of massive bloody paw prints.

Bryan hissed violently as he watched his father appear from around the corner carrying his bow staff.

* * *

"God, did I walk into a family reunion or something? What's the matter with you?" Gaz looked back at other who had taken a defensive stance, slightly crouched.

"Where is he!" Bryan spat, glaring daggers towards the other.

Zephyre glowered back at him. "Don't you think I'd like to know!" He snatched the front of Bryan's jacket and jerked him up off the floor, looking him over. "Who are they?"

Bryan looked past his father and stared at his sister, who still had an unamused scowl plastered on her face. "Why did you bring her here? You knew how dangerous it was going to be!" He stood up fully and clenched his fists around his blade and Noah. "Why didn't you leave her at home?"

"Because I would've never been able to find you! And I don't fight like I used to, you know that!" Zephyre glanced back down at the smeet in his left arm. "Who does he belong to?" he asked sternly, pulling away the jacket so he could see.

At this point Bryan was so fed up with just looking at his father that words couldn't form to explain how he felt. His face reddened intensely and he stormed off, shoving past his father and flicking his right blade at Auzie, telling her to come along. "You should know." he called back. "You liar."

Gaz stood helpless in her spot and watched as the father took off down the hall after them. Once they were all out of view she dropped her useless chunk of metal that was formerly her gun, and whipped out her baton. Once she heard the chorus of screaming soldiers she took off, a malicious grin spreading across her face.

Bryan had one blade extended outward and slightly behind him, cutting through throats as attackers charged them from ahead. Auzie took the liberty of burning the dead bodies beyond recognition, arguing that it would "help," even though it was only because she was never fast enough to catch a stray soldier before her brother.

Watching from close behind was Zephyre, trying to catch up to them before they got too far. Every corner they passed he inched closer until he was just millimeters from reaching distance. but he knew it wouldn't be enough, he could see the door getting closer, the threshold heavily lined with troops of all shapes and sizes.

As they closed the distance Bryan and Auzie slid to a stop just as the soldiers pulled out their weapons, preparing to fire. Bryan swiftly turned his head, his father nearly crashing into him. He was grabbed by the collar and whipped around, still clutching Noah tightly in one arm.

Zephyre shifted his eyes from left to right, surveying the squad from soldier to soldier. He had to admit that select few that Red had picked for his Elite force were becoming thinner and weaker than he remembered.

The soldier on the their far right aimed his gun and took the first shot, causing everyone else to chip in. In the brief moment of confusion Bryan had pulled free of his father's grip and disappeared into one of the ventilation shafts, ricocheting himself off the walls and climbing to the top of the floor.

"Where is he going!" Auzie ducked down and flicked her wrist, sending another spinning fire disc towards some poor soul that burst into flames and ran down the hall screaming. "He can't just LEAVE us here!"

Her father looked at her and scowled. "He just did! And be careful!" He turned his attention back to the baton twirler charging him, knowing this was only going to end one way, bloody.

* * *

Aneera turned down an unused hall and drug her feet until they came to a safer location. Once there she flung herself to the ground, spreading her arms and legs out and dropping her dragon form. "Oh my god, would it kill you to lose five pounds?"

Zim turned his head and glared. "Where! It's all muscle, I've got nothing left _to_ lose!"

"You're head doesn't have to be so big does it?" She snickered, giving him and innocent smile as he sat down against the wall at her feet.

"You weigh a ton, I know, I measured." He pulled out a portable screen and sent a quick transmission to the Moon Base, sighing as the effects of his exhaustion rushed to his brain.

Her head jerked up and she raised her foot, kicking him in the shoulder. "Yeah well that's all muscle too, and I _know_ you know that." She yawned and rolled over, resting her head on her hands.

The screen flickered for a moment before Dib's face lit up on the screen. "You're not dead yet?" he asked sarcastically, adjusting his glasses.

"No, and I've told you a million times that you I'm not giving the rights to my technology when I _do_die, so forget it." He gave him a quick glare before changing the topic. "So how's everything at base?"

Dib's face fell into an irritated scowl, his nose scrunching up in frustration. "Tak's here... How do you _think_ everything is? I can't believe you trust her!"

Zim scoffed at him and waved a hand. "I don't but she's got access to things that even I couldn't hack into. And I've got every eye in that facility on her at all times, its impossible for her to get away with anything without me knowing about it."

"You better be right, because I'm sick of her. But onto a lighter note, how is everything over there? And why are you laying around!"

"BECAUSE HE'S FAT!" Aneera shouted, gently shoving the other.

Zim's head snapped towards her. "Nobody asked for your input!" He turned back to Dib and smiled. "Great! We've seen over three hundred head bodies and I haven't seen anyone since Gaz had her fit over whoever was killing off the soldiers before she got to them."

"So nothing yet?"

"Nope." Zim sighed and sunk lower to the floor. "I can't even smell him anymore, it's like he;s not even here..." His voice trailed off sadly, his eyes drifting off into the distance.

Dib's shoulders slouched and he tried to smile hopefully. "I'm sure he's in good hands, and even if he's by himself I wouldn't worry. Besides, he's related to you, chances are he's either remained completely elusive or he can fight better than you think." He smiled wider.

Zim didn't smile back, he didn't even look. "We'd better get going, the sooner this is over, the better. How many have gotten to Earth?"

"Only seven are on the surface, but we've got people taking care of them. They landed on the Victorian Islands, Brazil and one went to China, but I wouldn't worry."

Zim nodded his head and let his eyes meet Dib's. "I'll call you again when we're safe, I don't know when that'll be, but if it takes too long feel free to send in some back up, just in case." He reached around to the edge of the screen and shut it off, exhaling heavily. "Come on."

Aneera groaned and pushed herself up off the floor, stretching her shoulders. "It's not much farther is it?" she asked, leaning forward onto her paws and shacking the blood back into her legs.

"No." With a quick jump Zim crawled onto her shoulder and situated himself comfortably. "Let's go."

* * *

Red paced boredly in the middle of the room, aimlessly turning in circles to keep himself busy. "This is ridiculous, I know they aren't this slow." He turned to the ComTech sitting directly in front of him. "Where are they?"

The Irken turned in his seat and began typing in commands, pulling up two active security cams. One showing Zephyre and Auzie backed into a corner fighting for their lives and the other showing Aneera trodding down one of the main halld with Zim on her back.

"Wait..." Red moved closer and looked over the small Irken's shoulder. "What happened to Bryan? Why don't we have a visual of him!"

The ComTech fidgeted nervously, pulling up any camera that would give him a clue. "I-I don't know... Sir..."

Tallest Red spun his chair around so that he was facing the other. "You don't know?" He watched him shake his head. "It's your job to know!" He backhanded the smaller Irken across the face and floated a few feet away before turning back to him and clenching his fists. "Do you have _any_ idea what he's capable of!"

He pulled at his collar and slowly shook his head, cringing away as his Tallest started yelling.

"He is one of the most talented Irkens alive! Why do you think we've been losing so many soldiers! They don't just fall over dead! I would _kill_ to have him on my Elite force, I have _never_ seen anyone brutally _slaughter_ people like him."

The ComTech swallowed harshly and grabbed the edge of his chair for support, leaning away as Red floated closer.

"If I could get my hands on him and make him one of us he'd be _perfect_. We'd just have to take away the basic emotions and make him obey." Red swiftly spun around and floated over to the middle of the room. "But you don't even know where he is! We're dealing with a devil and you can't even keep your eye on him! If you can't-!" He stopped, slowly turning his gaze upwards.

The others in the room did the same, twitching their antennae to adjust their hearing. At first it was silent, with just the humming of the ship, but after a moment they all heard it, the banging of metal above their heads and the faint sound of heavy walking.

"It's him..." Red whispered, backing away towards the front of the room. "Assume your positions."

The remaining four Irkens readied their weapons and stood behind Red, waiting for the mysterious killer to appear. After a moment of nervously looking around a figure fell from the ceiling and landed gracefully on the floor.

Bryan slowly rose to his feet and brought his balde to his torso, hiding Noah under his coat. "I'd say hello but I hate you and don't feel like looking at your face." He surveyed the room and lowered his blade, giving anyone who looked directly at him the evil eye.

"Well aren't you charming. It's nice to finally see _you_." Red smiled and cocked his head to the side. "What are you hiding?" He moved closer to get a better look, but Bryan crouched down and backed away.

"Where's my brother?" he asked defensively.

Red rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I don't really know, I'm surprised he's taking so lo-" His head jerked to the right as he was cut off.

The double doors flew open, Aneera bounding in with a deafening roar, her wings flared and claws spread to kill. She dug her them into the floor to stop herself, making the metal screech beneath her talons.

"Speaking of the devil!" he called to Zim, smiling wider upon his dismount. "We were just talking about you. Good to see you _finally_ stopped by, I was getting bored."

Zim waved Aneera off and she entertained herself with mauling anyone she could get her teeth into. He pulled out his baton and charged it up, stopping a few yards away from the Tallest. "I hope you weren't insulting me."

Red's eyes slowly followed one of his soldiers who had gotten behind Bryan, whose face was riddled with both admiration and horror for his brother. When Red nodded to the soldier Noah was yanked from his grip. "Thought so."

Aneera stopped what she was doing and snarled, making the soldier jump in fear.

Zim hissed at him and narrowed his eyes. Somewhere in the back of his mind he was wondering why Noah was half the size he used to be. "Put him down."

Red held up a hand to silence him, looking Noah over with a close eye. When he was satisfied he dismissed the guard and watched the little smeet cower behind his father. "Pathetic."

"Jerk." he replied, looking angrily at the taller one.

Zim shushed him and nudged him over towards his mother, scowling at him. When he was safe his scowl turned to a glare as his eyes met Red's. "So how do you want to do this?"

"Well I really don't want to do anything until the others get here, we've got important business to take care of." Red clasped his hands behind his back and began shifting his gaze from one to the other, amusing himself.

After a moment of total silence Zim stood lax and stared at Red. Then his gaze fell upon to the other male standing in front of him. He vaguely had the feeling of looking into a mirror.

"What're you looking at?" he asked, leaning his head back. He followed Red's stare at looked the other in the eye for the first time.

Red stopped and snickered. "The two of you, I just can't get over the irony." He looked back over at Bryan, who pulled out his second blade and glowered back. "Oh come now, it's not all my fault."

"It's _ENTIRELY_ your fault! I have half a mind to kill you _right_ now!" He then lowered his weapons and looked hatefully at the doors. "I just want an explanation before you die."

Zim stood silently, not understanding enough to make any comments. Just the fact that he was being suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of nostalgia was enough to keep his mind busy.

"Well I suppose I could..." Red turned around and gasped. His remaining soldiers had been all reduced to half eaten piles of bone and shredded flesh. He scrunched his face as the smell hit him, nausia following soon after. "That's disgusting."

"Thank you!" Aneera replied, smiling proudly.

"Sir!" The ComTech that was still alive spun around in his chair and addressed his Tallest. "The others have been captured, shall I bring them in?"

Red smiled gratefully and waved him off. "And have them send in more Elites." He then turned back to the Irkens at hand. "Looks like you'll be getting your explanation. And I'm sure you'd," he looked at Zim. "like one too?"

Said Irken lowered his baton and moved his to his left hand. "It'd be nice to know where the sudden nostalgia came from."

The Tallest crossed his arms and smiled wider. "Well I wasn't planning on having you two even see each other, but since you really don't have a clue I guess it won't harm anything." He looked away and thought to himself for a moment, finding something might help. "Been having any strange nightmares lately?"

Zim stepped back and looked at him suspiciously. "How do you know about that?"

"You still haven't made the connection yet? I thought you were smarter than that." The doors burst open and a dozen Irken guards marched in, four occupying Zephyre and Auzie. "Oh good! We can get started!"

Auzie looked angrily at Red and started wriggling in the guard's grip. "When I get out of here you are SO FRIED!" The guards flicked her in the head and glared at her.

"Be quiet, squirt."

She looked up him and narrowed her eyes and flexed her hands, which burst into flames. She watched smugly as the guard's face went from nervous to red hot and in pain. Auzie put her feet up and pushed off his chest, sliding to a stop next Bryan.

Once the guard had shaken his hands cool he looked up, meeting Red's furious gaze. "It's not my fault! You saw what she did..." he said defensively.

Red made a mental note to throw him out the airlock later. After he'd made sure to remember that he looked over to Zephyre and grinned. "Oh how ironic. I guess you're quite impressive attempt at lying failed in the end, didn't it?"

"I wouldn't have to have lied if it wasn't for you! You brought this on yourself!" Zephyre wriggled angrily and hissed, glaring at him threateningly.

Auzie's interest piqued and she looked up at her brother. "What's he talking about?"

Bryan snorted unhappily and folded his arms across his chest. "He's been lying to us, that's what."

"Is _that_ why you left! So what!" She punched his arm. "We thought you _DIED_!"

Red grew impatient and jerked his head towards the child. "Enough! I'm tired of dealing with you, the sooner I can get this over with the sooner I can kill you all!"

Aneera jumped up from her seat and leaped back into her scaled figure, crouching low behind Zim and keeping her violet eyes locked onto Red's.

"Oh don't worry, I've got plenty to tell _you_." He smirked as her head raised a little. He then addressed the two other in front of him. "I'm actually surprised that this hasn't happened sooner, I was expecting this to be more difficult."

Bryan's hands began to tighten around his swords, his temper rising. "What did you expect! You brainwashed him! Of course he's not going to remember anything!" He pointed one of the blades at Zim, still looking hatefully at Red.

"What ever do you mean?" Red asked mockingly, seeing his opportunity.

Bryan then swung his hand around and jabbed the tip of his blade at the Tallest's throat. "You took him away from us!"He stepped closer, his blue eyes fading to the familiar Irken red they used to be. "If you hadn't sent your soldiers to our planet he wouldn't be here!"

Red's smile grew wider as the boy's voice continued to rise, his eyes darting to Zim every few seconds. Once Bryan was screeching at the top of his lungs the Tallest jerked his towards Zim and he yelled over the other. "Isn't this familiar! I recall you having the very same anger management problems!"

Zim's face reddened as his temper, too, started rising. "Will you get on with it before I decide you're not worth listening to!"

"That!" he said, leaning in closer. "That right there. You never could control your anger, could you? That's not normal behavior, it's not even common in defects." Red sneered as Zim's eyes twitched. "Is that what you think you are? A defect? Well then, would it make you feel better if i told you that that's _not_ what you are?"

Zim's face instantly went blank, paling until he was a sickly pastel color. "Wh... what?... Then what the hell am I!"

Red pointed his finger at the captive, who was still jerking helplessly. "Why don't you ask your _father_WHAT YOU ARE!" His lips curled into a deadly grin as he saw the realization hit him square in the face.

Slowly, Zim's head turned to look at Zephyre, who took one look at him and hung his head in shame. He then looked back at Red. "You're lying..." he whispered. "Tell me you're lying!"

"No! I'm not lying, that would be pointless. You're anger is hereditary, it always ran in the family." Red began to walk towards the front of the room to his ComTech.

Zim racked his brain for and sort of explanation he could come up with. "They are not my family." he stated, making Red stop and turn to look at him. "I remember being born in the hatchery, I remember going to the Academy, I remember single handedly destroying the first Operation... I remember being banished, and the way you hated me..." He voice got quiet as he continued. "I've counted all the times you tried to kill me, and how you acted like I was your favorite so I wouldn't know."

"All of those are true..." He said, watching Zim's face lighten. "Except for the first part. You were never born in the facility, you were brought to the hatchery for your PAK, which I'm glad to see has done it's job."

Bryan could feel his blood boiling at this point, plotting how to bring Red down with minimal effort. "You're a monster." he hissed.

Red looked to him and smiled apathetically. "I take that as a compliment. And actually, he was turning out quite well at first, banishing him was probably where I went wrong. But I can imagine why it-"

"YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT DID TO ME!" Zim stepped forward and brought his baton up to strike. "Of all the things you did to me, to all of us, I would rather have gone to _Hell_ and back! I can barely _function_ on my own because you _TORTURED_ me until I was all but dead!"

"And look how strong you are now. You may not be able to function like a normal Irken, granted you aren't one, but you're stronger than some of my best. If anything you should be grateful for that, at least." Red turned to face him fully. "But none of this changes the fact that you aren't who you think you are." He pulled a small round disc from his PAK and handed it to his ComTech. "This is what your mind used to look like."

The ComTech placed the disc onto the scanner and pulled up a screen on the front window. The screen flickered and shook as the static cleared away, revealing a series of short memories, which were played from the vision of a smeet.

One was an earlier memory of the two of them sitting with their mother outside. The next had the two of them in what looked to be an underground base, much like the one Zim had, playing around with what Zim thought was a mutant dog.

These random memories continued playing for a good five minutes before Red paused it at a longer, drawn out memory. He looked to Zim and spoke. 'You'll remember this one, our brain surgeon failed to remove this one." He started up the memory and let it play out.

It was dark outside and a dull orange glow flooded into the house from the windows. The smeets were huddled into a corner behind their mother, cringing when the door was kicked open.

"Oh my god..." Zim knew what this was, he had dreamed it hundreds of times, and he knew every little detail of it, except the last split second when the other called out to who he now understood to be himself. The screen began to flicker again as the soldiers hoisted him from the ground. He grabbed the back of his collar, feeling it start to choke him like it did that night.

The father was busy with mauling the two officers while the mother was thrown against the wall. There was more yelling and screaming for help, accompanied by the cries of pain from one of the other soldiers as blood poured from his hand. He staggered and was struck down by the one carrying the smeet. The other called out to him and reached his hand forward, his eyes full of tears. '_Zim_!'

"Bryan..."

Red shut off the screen and removed the disc, tossing it to Zim. "You can keep that, they belong to you." He let out a huff and surveyed the room. "The secrets out, Z. You might as well give up your little charade."

"Wait a minute!" Auzie held her hands up and silenced the room. Her eyes shifted to her father. "Why didn't Bryan remember this earlier?"

Zephyre saw every eye in the room peer at him questioningly, except for Bryan's, who looked disgusted. He looked back broken heartedly, ashamed of what he was about to tell them. "We gave him a sedative to put him to sleep. A close friend of mine who'd been caught in the attack had property on the neighboring planet that was ready for us to move into. We told him it was dream and that he had suffered from memory loss."

Red's antennae perked up. "Really? And how about his appearance?"

The other sighed and hung his head lower. "I knew someone who used to work with me in the black market, we were afraid that if we didn't do something about that he'd find out sooner."

"True, twins are hard to come by." Red looked around thoughtfully, his eyes landing on Zim's pale face. "I know you heard me, Zim."

"I don't believe this... I don't know _what_to believe!" He sunk to his knees and dropped his baton, his hands falling limp by his sides. He could feel Aneera breathing beside him, focusing on that he knew he wasn't going mad.

"Oh don't feel bad," he said, meeting Zim's blank gaze as he lifted his head. "It's not like it makes much difference, you'll be dead soon anyways."

All eyes and snarls were directed at him, Aneera going so far as to snap her jaws tow inches from his face.

Auzie brought her hand down and pulled up a fire ball. "Will someone give me a half decent reason as to why we haven't killed him yet!"

"Because I've got more to say, after that feel free to try and fail." He walked past Zim and wrapped his claws around one of Aneera's horns, roughly pulling her forward. He avoided her snapped and pulled harder when she resisted. "It's your turn." he said, letting go of her and joining his ComTech.

Aneera looked up, nudging Noah over to his father. Whe he was gone she peered back at Red, her eyes thinning dangerously as her lips pulled back into a snarl, growling threateningly.

Red leaned over and whispered to the Irken next to him, watching as he followed orders. Another screen appeard and the image flickered to life. "Zim," he waited for him to look up and pay attention. "This is another one of your memories, and thankfully we removed it completely."

The memory played out like the others had, except this was on the Massive, in room full of defective smeets. Over the door hung a sign that read 'Holding Cell 12'. For the first few minutes it was just him him sitting against the wall surveying the little Irkens.

Zim watched closely, recognizing a younger Irken then, Tiz. _This must have happened after Operation Impending Doom I, I didn't even know Tiz back then..._ "When did this happen?"

"After you were banished. This was your week off from Foodcourtia. Sizz-Lor needed a break from you so he sent you here for work." Red explained, smirking.

The scene continued to play out, staying fairly normal. About three minutes in a pair of guards stormed in, scaring the smeets together in a corner. One stepped forward and pointed his gun at the group, calling for one of them to step up. '_Aneera! The Tallest have called for you._' A smeet standing behind her shoved her forward where she was scooped up by the other guard.

Aneera snorted at the screen, lowering her ears in defense against what she was seeing. Zim trembled lightly as he faintly remembered this happening, while Noah was tucked under his arm in fear.

As the memory continued, Zim's vision followed the guards, watching them leave through the doors. He proceeded to follow behind them, staying well away so he wouldn't be found. A few mor minutes in they ended up in a small dimly lit room with both Tallest standing being a metal table, similar to the one Zim owned. The smeet was forced down onto the table with electrical restraints.

A low hiss poured from the dragon's jaws as she backed away, lowering her tail and wings, straining her ears backwards.

'_Go get the syringe, she can't get away._' said Purple, nodding over to a table off screen. When the guard returned he handed it over to Red, then busied himself with opening the fron of her uniform, exposing the skin above her heart. Red leaned over the now crying and yelling Aneera, watching happily she wriggled helplessly under him. He found the main blood vessel and plunged the needle through her skin, forcing the black liquid into her system.

Aneera had to paw her ears shut as she heard herself cry out with a deafening and shrill scream. At this point the screen was shut off, leaving the room deathly quiet, save for Aneera's whimpers and grunts of frustration.

Red turned around to look at everyone's reaction, pleased to see that it was nothing but hate and disgust. Then he let his gaze float to Aneera, who was violently shaking and poised to jump him.

Before he could say anything to piss her off even more, the door swung open again, crashing into the wall. Marching in was a very irritated and fed up Tallest Purple. "**RED!**" he yelled, glaring hotly at his co-Tallest.

"Oh my," Red said sarcastically. "I'm so frightened."

When Purple reached him he was just an inch from the others face, eyes equally narrowed. "You disgust me, you aren't fit to be Tallest anymore!"

Red simply pushed him away and shoved past the quivering Aneera. "What're you gonna do about it? You don't have the authority to demote me! Only the control brains do, and they agree with everything I'm doing!"

Zim suddenly snapped out of his temporary trance and snatched up his staff, ready to charge Red. But Purple held up his hand and motioned towards Aneera, silently telling him he'd take care of the other Tallest.

"You know, they aren't the only ones who make up the rules." Purple said matter-of-factly. "They may be old, but the Order is still in play." He watched as Red stopped in his tracks and jerked around.

He hissed and floated up to Purple. "No one listens to the Order, it was written by a bunch of _fools_! That piece of parchment is the reason why the original Irkens never lasted!"

"That doesn't mean you don't have to obey it!"

"Oh listen to yourself!" Red snarled, waving him off. "You're becoming one of them! I may not be fit to rule in your eyes, but you're not the majority of the population!"

Purple stood his ground and squared his shoulders. "No, but I am Tallest, and both I _and_the Second Tallest agree that you're unfit to rule, that's more than enough to relieve you of your position."

Red stood where he was and quirked a brow at the other, waving in two other guards. "Sieze him, put him in one of the empty cells."

Two of the guards standing by the door took each of Purple's arms and hauled him off to the prisoners wing.

Aneera shook her head and snapped at Red, advancing on him quickly. However, once she got too close he pulled his gun and back her up a few feet. She grunted bitterly and slinked back over to Zim and where Bryan was now standing with Auzie.

"You might as well take him away too." He shooed away the two guards holding Zephyre, who suddenly started putting up another fight as he was dragged out.

Auzie ran after them, ignoring her brothers cries. She gave him one last reassuring look as she disappeared through the doors after their father. Once she was gone the room fell silent again, leaving Red to speak first.

He pulled out his baton, the ends glowing with an electrified purple light. "So, which one of you wants to die first?"

Letting instinct kick in, Zim charged him, bring his staff around and swing harshly at his Tallest. Red took a short leap backwards and quickly flicked Zim aside, bring the end of his baton across across Zim's midsection, sending him flying ten feet across the room. The whole right side of his uniform had been burnt away, leaving his bare skin red and seared.

"DAD!" Noah clawed away from his mother and got about five feet before Bryan pulled him away and held him down. He looked to his brother and watched Zim push himself up onto his elbows.

Aneera had finally snapped and launched herself at Red, spreading and aiming her talons for his face. As she flared her wings and let a out thundering bellow her eyes widened, she had made a grave mistake. She made a last second attempt to pull away, but her wings didn't move fast enough, and she felt it.

It pushed through her skin easily, like she was nothing but air. The only thing she could comprehend was the sound of her flesh burning and the smell of her blood falling to floor as her body slid down the shaft of the baton. Her eyes stared into Red's, and she could just make out his evil smirk before she was tossed aside.

She felt so numb that the pain was no more than a dull thumping in her antennae. Everything else was muffled, the screams from her son and helpless cries of her husband.

Red watched Zim rush to her side, the tears pouring from his eyes. He saw poor little Noah sit in fear by his dying mother, too dazed to say anything. He felt satisfied for the first time in days, even though it may not have been Zim.

"No..." Zim pulled her up into his arms and shook his head, trying to focus his eyes. "You can't... I... I need you..."

Aneera sucked in a deep breath and smiled at him, bringing a hand up to his face. "I know...but..." She filled her lungs back up, letting the air out slowly. "You'll be fine... I know you..." She then turned her head to her son, holding her hand up to him, who gladly took it. "I'll be back." she whispered, letting her eyes close and body fall limp.

All Zim could hear was his heart beating, his vision glazed over from his tears. And suddenly, he forgot how to breathe.

* * *

Author: ... There it is... THE CHAPTER... The one chapter I've been planning for two years.

I understand that this was long and drug out, but if only just to let out the thing you're thinking this instant, I need reviews. This is where I'll know whether or not you guys really want to see this through to the end.

You don't have to review for any other chapter unless you really want to, but this is the most crucial of all chapters, and I need to know what you guys are feeling right now.

It's right there, and you only have to say a few words.

V

V

V


	38. Lies Can Kill You

It was as if he just woke up from a coma even though he'd only spaced out for a minute. His vision was stilled blurred as the tears continued to pour from his eyes, but he had the slightest sense of movement, like someone was shaking him awake.

Then it hit...

He sprung to his feet, baton in hand, and took off towards the tall red blur ahead of him, screaming furiously.

Red backed away and tunred to run, knowing that he was now in danger. The look Zim had was enough for him to realize his mistake, because even though he may be mentally unstable, he was violently enraged and he had a weapon. Red could see that the door much too far off and he wouldn't make it, his guards were his last chance.

Zim readied the baton, pulling it back behind him and pushing his right shoulder forward. As Red turned to face him and dove behind his guards, he pulled his baton around, burning through the whole right side of Red's PAK and grazing both his antennae and face.

With a shriek, Red fell on his back and slid to a stop, hitting his head against the wall. When he looked up he saw that his two largest guards and grabbed onto Zim by the arms, who was now desperately trying to jerk away. "WHAT'S THE MATTER! ARE YOU ANGRY!" He yelled mockingly, content when Zim continued to howl in protest. "Kill him." he ordered, rising to his feet.

The guards looked at each other, then back at Red, refusing to move.

"Kill him! You saw what he did to me!" Red shouted, pointing to the damage he had suffered. He was appalled when both shook their heads and glared at him.

"You killed her," one of the guards pointed over to Aneera's body. "She never did anything to you."

The other guard nodded in agreement and said, "Almight Tallest Purple was right, you are _not_ fit to rule."

"WHAT! I _AM_ your Tallest! You will obey me!"

"No." they stated, gently setting Zim on the ground where Bryan pulled him away. They then pushed by Red and marched down the hall. "We're getting Tallest Purple back."

Red stood in total disbelief, gawking at the guards until they disappeared around a corner. Once they were gone he stormed back into the ComRoom and was about to open his mouth to yell at someone, but a short, purple haired demon shoved him aside and continued forward towards Zim.

"What happened!" Gaz slid to a stop and knelt down beside Noah, gasping when she saw the large gaping hole in Aneera's stomach. "Oh no... Is she...?"

Zim leaned over and hung his head, gently touching his nose to hers. As he pulled away he felt a tiny whisp of air graze his skin. His eyes snapped open and he looked at her carefully, bringing a hand over her mouth. It was faint, but she was breathing in short, periodical gasps. "She's alive!"

Bryan held her upright while Gaz checked her for a pulse. Noah sat down next to Zim, watching hopfully as his mother's eyes slowly fluttered back open.

"She needs a doctor." Gaz jumped to her feet and ran off, trying to remember where she saw the medical wing.

Red floated over and looked disdainfully upon the group, staggering to stay upright. "She's not dead yet!"

Bryan quickly handed the girl to Zim and pulled his blades from his belt, standing protectively between the two. "Neither are you, and you should be!"

"Then kill me!" Red held his arms out and surrendered, knwoing the boy wouldn't, though he wanted to.

He snorted and took a step back. "I'd rather see you tortured and beaten. I want to watch you suffer like all your victims did."

"So would I."

Everyone turned around, their eyes fixating on Tallest Purple as he walked into the room. He marched over to Red and stared him down, making his authority perfectly clear. "You have been stripped of your position and are no longer Tallest."

Scoffing, Red crossed his arms and smirked. "Says who?"

"I do, and when the Control Brains hear of your damdaged PAK I'm sure we'll agree that you can be relieved of your duties."

Red's face fell, and for a moment he was confused. "Then who the hell is gonna be Tallest! YOU! You never could make a single desicion by yourself! I did everything for you because-!"

Purple held up a hand and shook his head. "It is not my place to be Tallest anymore."

There was a pause. "You're _joking_..." Red started laughing between his words, hardly able to form them cohearently. "You _honestly_ believe that _he_ can take over? Have you _LOST_ your _MIND_!" He then looked around and whispered, keeping the conversation between just them. "I just killed his wife, proved that his entire life has been a lie and you expect him to be _Tallest_!"

"Listen Red," Tallest Purple inched closer and spat his name. "I'm going to give you eight seconds to get out of my sight, after that you're fair game to anyone who wants to kill you." He stepped aside and hissed at him, telling him to _move it_.

As Red disappeared through the door, Purple rushed over to the huddle of Irkens, gently laying a hand on Zim's shoulder as he knelt down. "If she's going to have any chance at all we need to get her medical help, now."

Zim abruptly sprung to his feet, Aneera hanging limply in his grasp. He turned to Purple, ready to follow and obey any command. "Lead the way..."

Auzie and Bryan took off in front of them, still ready to fight. They kept at pace with Purple so he could lead them around the Massive, hoping that anyone who was with Red would either see to back down or take an unfortunate end.

"How do you expect to save her?" Bryan stopped at the end of a hall and peered around the corner, then glanced back at the Tallest.

"You'll see." He tunred the corner and looked around. "Take a left down at the end and then the last right, the hall will dead end to med bay." he explained, knowing that if they could get there first and fend off anyone who was still there less time would be lost for Aneera.

Zim let out a breath, the tears continuing to stream down his face. He took in another deep breath and continued down the halls behind Purple, keeping a firm grip on his wife. Once they reached the med bay doors they flew open, a semi-tall Irken landed a few yard away from them and staggered to his feet, a baton in hand.

Bryan burst through the doors after him and screamed, jumping to the wall and bouncing off to attack him from the side. The two fell back to the floor and rolled around, the unknown Irken proving to be quite an opponent.

The unknown soldier was wearing a distictive Fighter Pilot's uniform, but the color was too dark to be Tiz's. He pushed Bryan's arms out from under him and was rolled onto his back ."Get off me!" With one last attempt he twisted his arm around and shoved the other away.

Zim's eyes widened at the sound of the voice, he knew who that was. "Here, you go on." He handed Aneera over to Purple, turning away so that he couldn't be refused. Once he heard his Tallest leave he went up to the other, glaring harshly. After the other had taken notice of him he swiped his baton across the Irken's chest, knocking him to the ground. "Ix, if you _EVER_ try and shoot my Cruiser down again, you won't wake to see the light of day."

"You two know each other?" Bryan stood and straightened out his trench coat, sliding his blades back into his belt.

"Unfortunately." Zim crossed his arms with disgust, looming over the pilot.

Said Irken picked himself back up, huffing with irritation. "Oh please, you always knew I was the better pilot, so-"

Scoffing, Zim said, "Is that why I always finished the training courses first _and_ got perfect scores on all the exams?"

"Tch, that's _all_ you ever did right, but on the field you screwed everything up!" He took a step forward and started yelling at his rival. "You caused a planet wide blackout _twice_ before you ruined Opporation: Impending Doom I, you nearly killed your _entire_ species! Not to mention-!"

Zim, having had enough, yanked a blade from his brother's belt and sliced it across Ix's throat, beheading the shorter Irken. He then casually handed it back saying, "He was irritating me."

Bryan looked down at his blade, eyeing it unsurely before taking it back. "Really?" he said sarcastically, carefully putting it back so that he wouldn't get blood all over himself.

Auzie then appeared, intantly spotting the headless body. "That's nice." She didn't care to ask who had done the deed, still irritated that there was a duplicate of her already difficult brother. "Hey," She pointed to Zim. "We think that your girlfriend or whatever is gonna live."

Without a second thought or explanation Zim darted past her, disappearing into the medical labs. Once inside he skipped around table and chairs, trying his best to dodge whatever happened to be in his way. "My Tallest!"

Purple called him over, waving a hand so he made sure that the other saw him, rushing him over once he was in view. "Now I'm not going to guarantee you anything, she very well may die... but what we can do is keep her in here. She's in a coma right now but this can hook up with her PAK and try to keep her alive while it mends the... gaping hole... in her... stomach..." He slowed down when he got a good look at Zim's face, which was still pained but it looked so lost. Purple reached out a hand and gently rubbed Zim's back, resting his hand on his shoulder. He gave the other a minute before continuing, "I don't know how long it'll take, but by the size of her wound it may takes quite a few months if not a couple years..." He trailed off again as one of the Medics came up to them, eyeing the situation carefully.

"My Tallest? Is everything alright?" he asked, pulling his thick, blue goggles from his eyes.

Purple just adverted his eyes, resting them on the girl he had always felt to be his own. "She needs help."

The Medic closed the gap and peered over the edge of the table, instantly jerking his head back and gasping. "My Lady...?" he asked softly, holding a hand up to his mouth.

There was a brief pause before Purple looked back at the Medic hopefully. "She's dying quickly, and I know this is the only chance she has, can you help her?"

With a swift salute and confident smirk the Medic introduced himself. "Medical Bay Officer and Special Cases Expert Niles, at your service." His gaze slowly trailed from Tallest Purple's tired face to Zim's sickly pale and hollowed features. "Oh my... You're..."

Zim quietly hissed and looked away, not knowing what form of shame he was in for. He'd heard it all anyways; liar, defect... traitor... It never really made a difference, but he'd rather have the only person who could save his wife _not_ think too lowly of him.

Niles righted himself and adverted his eyes, quickly looking over Aneera. He noted the size and position of her wound, instantly relaxing once he knew it didn't hit her vital organ. "Well," he started, getting both of the other Irken's attention. "The only thing that needs repairing is tissue and nerves really, she should recover." Niles looked up and met Zim's face, still pale but a little more flush and lively. "Mind you, I don't know how long it may take, I'd estimate between two to three years due to the type and amount of damage." He watched as Zim's face fell again, instantly feeling a sort of pity for the other. "But at least now we know that her chances of survival are quite a bit higher."

* * *

"Ew! Don't poke it! It's making squishy noises!... Bryan! THAT'S GROSS!" Auzie smacked her brother in the shoulder and glared at him harshly.

He chuckled and proceeded to poke and prod at Ix's disembodied head, flinching whenever blood unexpectidly oozed from his mouth and neck. "Don't act so squeamish."

Auzie huffed and stood up, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall next to him and gazed into the medical room. "Hey, shouldn't we go check on them?"

Bryan looked up and watched the door. "Nah, give him a minute," he said as he stood back up and wiped the rest of the blood from his blade. "Besides, I've got all the time in the world..." He looked down and his face fell at his reflection in the metal sheen of his weapon.

As the two waited quietly for the the others Gaz had walked by, holding Noah securly in her arms. She wasn't interested in staying with the two and had mentioned a nice room for everyone to meet at once everything was over. After her short lived visit passed, Purple emerged from the dimly lit room, gently nudging Zim forward as they walked.

Zim looked around and held the front of his uniform tightly with his right hand, trying to steady his irregular breathing. As he glanced around his eyes briefly fell on Bryan, but when the other looked up and met his gaze he quickly adverted his eyes.

"Um," Auzie held up a finger to get the Tallest's attention. "Some girl named Gaz came by, she said something about a really nice empty suite for us to meet at when you were done." She quietly ended her sentence and looked at Zim with pity she knew he didn't want or need.

"Thank you," Purple said softly. "Did she say where it was?"

"I know where it is," Bryan pushed himself off the wall and joined them, leading the way down the hall and around the Massive. Every so often he peeked back the others to make sure they kept up and see how Zim was holding up, but other than that he kept a steady pace and dealt with the last few stragglers of Red's followers. Once they reached the door and Purple pushed open the doors he and Auzie walked inside.

As Zim started to enter he felt a strong hand grip his arm and he stopped, then looked at him with sad, empty eyes. He kept very still as the other gently pulled him into a hug, and as his breathing slowed he allowed himself to hang his head and nuzzle the other's shoulder.

Bryan hugged him tighter and tried desperately to fight back his tears as he whispered. "I told you I'd come back for you," he said as he slowly pulled away to look at his brother.

Zim stared lifelessly into the other's gaze and quivered, fully remembering the night he had been taken. "I feel like... I hardly know you anymore..."

The other nodded slowly and gave his brother's arms one last squeeze before they headed inside. The room hadn't changed since Bryan and Noah stayed there, except the bed had been made and the pillows put back on the couch. He laughed internally as he thought of the maid drones making their rounds in the middle of the earlier fight.

As the two entered inside the room they were met with with Gaz, Noah, Aranarth, Kassandra, and Zephyre. Noah squirmed away from Gaz and ran after his father, clinging to him once he had been lifted from the ground.

Noah then pushed away and jerked his head around. "Dad..." he looked up into Zim's dull eyes and gripped the fabric tighter. "Where's Mom?" he whispered as fresh tears fell from his eyes.

Zim gently covered Noah's mouth and sat down, pulling his son closer as the smeet began to sob and scream for his mother. He ignored the looks of sadness that the others gave both of them, knowing that they meant well but refused to truly look at their faces.

"I called my brother," Gaz stated quietly, who had waited until the cries had stopped to tell anyone. "He said he'd leave as soon as he could."

With a nod of his head, Zim thanked the girl and shot her a glance, but only to let her know that she'd been aknowledged. Otherwise he held his gaze to the ground and let the others whisper amongst themselves.

He caught a few bits and pieces from everyone, but never listened long enough to make much sense of any of it. Most of what he heard was bickering anyways, which didn't lift his mood in the slightest. But he was suddenly jerked back to life when his comunicator went of in his uniform pocket. He yanked it free and blew the screen up so he could see the bright blue eyes that peered at him.

"Hey... I heard about what happened..." Tiz's eyes softened as he knew it was an extremely tender subject. "I'm on my way in, but before I head out I wanted you to know that I got a notification about five minutes ago about another unidentified ship." He watched Zim carefully, knowing he was at least trying to seem interested or concerned. "When I told them that they were in a restricted area and that I'd need IDs they sent me a promp 'Kiss my ass' and ported in station eight... I didn't know if you wanted anything done about it..."

Zim was the only one in the room who had anything less than tiny smirk, but internally he had smiled. "We'll keep an eye out, dock with their ship and see if you can find anything."

Tiz noded. "Will do, Sir, I'll be there in a few."

The call was ended and rest of the group looked at each other, wondering who had the guts to tell off a Fleet Commander.

"Uh, Dad?" Kassie, who had otherwise been quiet, looked up at her father questioningly. "You didn't tell Mom where we were going, did you?"

Ara was about to protest but immediately realized that he had done no such thing. "No... But she didn't ask, so I can't be blamed."

Kassandra nodded to herself knowingly and slouched back into the couch. "I knew it sounded like something Mom would do."

"**Attention all onboard soldiers, there is an unauthorized craft and personel on board the Massive.**" The intercom rang in everyones ears and antenna, causing some flinch and others to groan in agoney.

"**Suspects are unidentified in species, but please make any unusual behavior known to the Advisor.**"

Zim looked up and quirked and antenna. "Advisor?"

Purple sighed and slid back into his seat. "Since Red is gone and no one is in contact with me the Tallests' advisor has been put in charge... she's such an idiot..."

Auzie had grown bored of the useless bickering and whispering, and soon found that staring down the hall was _much_ more exciting, even if she only ever saw half the amount of people. A few minutes went by and a pair of figures appeared down at the end of the hall she was looking at. She could tell they were female by the way they walked, and one was deffinately Irken, but she wasn't sure about the other, it seemed pigmentless. But as they drew nearer she made them out instantly, both her and Kassie's mothers. She turned around and gently closed the door, then backed against a wall.

Bryan looked up at her and the room got silent. "What?"

His sister held in a laugh and forced herself to speak. "You're about to get you're ass chewed _SO_ bad."

He furrowed his brows and looked at the door, both hands ready by his weapons. As the door flew open he flinched and paled, his stomach lurched and his throat went dry.

The Irken mother stomped over to him and yanked him down to his knees by his antenna, instinctively making the rest of the Irkens in the room cover their own protectively. Once she had a good hold on him she started the yelling. "BRYAN! Do you have _ANY_ idea how worried _SICK_ I was about you! I cannot _BELIEVE_ you had the _NERVE_ to even _THINK_ about going off like that! You have absolutely no _IDEA_ what they could have done to y-!"

"I know exactly what they could have done to me!" Bryan swiped his mother's hand away and stood up, glaring hotly at her.

"Bryan! You deliberately lied to us!" She went on, pointing her finger at him.

He narrowed his eyes and dangerously lowered his voice. "Don't talk to me about lies... DON'T YOU _DARE_ GO THERE WITH ME!" He watched his mother flinch away from him, but she held her steady glare. "I MIGHT AS WELL HAVE GONE THROUGH _HELL_ AND BACK COMPARED TO THE _LIES_ YOU'VE TOLD ME!" He saw his father stand up and make his way towards himself, but as Zephyre approached Bryan swiftly held out a blade, the tip barely grazing the skin of his neck, and hissed. "Stay away from me." he warned, silently daring his father to take another step.

"Put it down, Bryan," his fahter hissed, narrowing his eyes at the other.

Bryan glared back just as hard and pushed the tip of his blade father into his father's throat. "Make me."

Zephyre snarled and gripped his son's wrist, his eyes never faltering. "I am your father and you'll do as I say."

The Irken ripped his hand away and stepped closer to the other. "You are _NOT_ my father! You _lied_ to me, you _tricked_ me into believing I was an only child, and you didn't even go _attempt_ to get him back!"

Ara's wife had watched with the others once she slapped him upside the head, then sat on the couch and kept quiet. Purple had backed away and moved everyone else a little farther from the fight. When he was sure everyone was safe he placed a hand on Zim's shoulder and whispered to him, "I know this doesn't make much sense now, but I want you to talk to him, ok?"

Zim's head shot around and he looked disbelievingly at Purple. "Are you crazy? He'd kill me!" Zim whispered back, stealing a quick glance at Bryan.

Purple elbowed him and glared harder. "If you don't he'll end up slaughtering half the crew members on the ship!"

Bryan hissed and shoved his father away, then stepped around his mother and stormed out of the room. He took a left and disappearerd around the door, silencing the rest of the room.

After another violent smack from Purple, Zim handed Noah off to him and made his way out of the room without saying a word. Once he was out of the room he picked up the pace and stayed on his toes, keeping the noise down so that he could hear the hateful growls of his brother.

Zim followed the noises around the Massive for the good portion of the next hour, eventually ending up in the observatory dome overlooking the training arena and weapons storage. When he walked in he stopped by the doorway, keeping still so as not to alarm the other.

Bryan paced back and forth on the edge by the railing, dragging his claws across the metal. He mumbled to himself and curesed beneath his breath, which made him dig his claws deeper into the metal and create a loud screetching sound.

The other flinched and held the tips of his antennae in his hands, watching his brother silently. As Bryan swung his legs over the edge of the railing and sat on the creaking metal Zim slowly walked up behind him.

"You know," Bryn started, making Zim stop suddenly. "for a long time I believed every word they said to me... They made me believe it was a dream, that I had always been this way... a freak." He lightly chuckled to himself, slouching forward.

Zim stayed quiet and desperately fought to find a reply. After a moment he internally sighed in relief as Bryan continued to speak.

"I don't even really remember how I found out... I mean, I knew certain things they did were a little off... We weren't allowed to watch the news, we couldn't go down the street without them putting up a fuss, and we weren't allowed to have friends that were the same species." He looked down and fiddled with the hem of his coat.

"So you're the one that trashed my base." Zim replied with a smirk, taking a spot on railing next to his brother.

Bryan glanced over and smiled. "Yeah, I'm... sorry about that, I was kind of... put off."

"You must've been, you terrified my robot. And it's alright, I'm actually quite surprised it hasn't been detonated yet... Besides, I can have it clean itself."

"You can do that?"

Zim slightly shook his head. "You've obviously been living under a rock."

Bryan scoffed and held his head up. "At least mine was a nice rock."

They sat around and talked easily with each other for a while, sharing small bits of stories and histories. At some point the conversation entered the relm of how Auzie had almost burned down the whole house in her sleep.

"So she's litarally an explosion waiting to happen?" Zim asked, a look of total amazment on his face.

With a laugh, Bryan nodded. "Yeah... So who's that little kid that you walk around with? How did Red get hold of him?"

"Ah, this gril that was staying with us pretended to be on our side, and so she kidnapped him since getting her hands on me failed as soon as her face hit the frying pan." Zim smirked, remebering the look on Tak's face when Gaz pulled the pan away.

Bryan cringed. "Ouch... So why does he follow you around? I mean he said something about you being his..." Bryan trailed off, really hoping he had been lied to somewhere in the mix.

Zim looked down at his hands thoughtfully. "He's my son..."

"... Uh, you're serious?" Bryan asked, looking into Zim's eyes as his brother lifted his head again and nodded. "But... that would mean... And you're the... AW COME ON!" he yelled, suddenly irritated with the whole conversation.

"What? Why?" Zim furrowed his brow and slightly leaned away, not sure exactly what button he had pressed.

The other scowled and huffed in Zim's direction. "You broke the most sacred rule in the Brother Code of Conduct... The _most_ important!"

Zim just sat and blinked, utterly lost in the void of confusion. "Eh?"

"You're my little brother! And _I'm_ the virgin here!" He flung his arms up to emphasize his point and looked sorrowfully into Zim's eyes. "How could you?"

"I didn't kno-!... Wait..." Zim suddenly looked just as irritated. "I'm the _little_ brother?... As in... _younger_ than you!"

Bryan nodded and smiled happily, no longer caring about the previous argument. "Yep!"

Zim flung his legs over the railing and stood back on the platform. "I don't believe this." He continued out the door and beckoned for the other to follow. "Come on, we're going back. It's going to get late soon."

"Pfft, I'm not going back there." Bryan walked up to the other and hisses. "Not after what they've done to me."

"Look," Zim started, dragging his brother along. "You're going to have to go back eventually. And you might as well hurry up and get over now, besides, it's not like I haven't been lied to."

Bryan huffed but otherwise stayed quiet as they walked back towards the suite.

Once they arrived they walked into a heated discussion over weather or not narwhals really were a descendant of unicorns. This was going back and forth between mostly Auzie, Kassandra, and Dib, who only arrived a moment ago. Everyone else was sitting back and eithe ignoring or silently taking sides.

"ALRIGHT THAT'S ENOUGH! I'M TIRED OF THIS!" Gaz slammed both of her hands onto the table in the middle of the living area and glared evily at the three. "You're all irritating me, so shut up before your bodies are found floating in the cold vacuum of space tomorrow morning."

That was plenty of reason for the other to shut their mouths and find somewhere to sit quietly, until Zim and Bryan showed up.

"Zim!" Dib took off and nearly tackled the Irken to the floor. "I thought you were gonna die!"

Said person gently, and with as much kindness as he could muster, shoved the human away. "You don't give me much credit anymore, do you?"

Dib opened his mouth to argue the opposite, but was quieted again when a loud booming voice called them back in. Purple stood over them as they silently made their way in, indicating that he was the one who nearly deafened them all. Once he handed Noah back over to his father he held his hands up to stop the whispers.

"We're all here for a reason, albiet they may be completely different. But, now that they've more or less been resolved, we have some important business to attend to, but mostly, we need to figure out who's going to be Tallest."

* * *

Aneera: Hey, what'dya know! I updated again! I don't know how much of a cliffhanger this is, but I needed to find a place to stop and this seemed more than adequate.

Zim: Hey, look at you using big words.

Aneera: Bigger than your-

Zim: Watch it.

Aneera: ... Ego... Anyway, It's almost summer, so I should have this story updated sooner! Which makes me happy! And I'm sorry for making all of you depressed and sad... It gets better!

Zim: No it doesn't, she's lying to you.

Aneera: Liar.

Zim: That's what I said!

Aneera: *hold up frying pan* I will beat you... Also, spellcheck is now built-in to , and I don't write these in Word, so excuse any errors I didn't pick up.


	39. Elder

"Wait..." Dib scrunched up his face in thought and looked at Purple with a quizzical eye. He didn't know a whole lot about the Irken society, but he did know that Tallest Purple _was_ the Tallest. "Why would we need to-?"

Purple held up a hand to silence him, but kept his gaze locked on the rest of the group. "We'll address that later, for right now I'd like to get everything else settled." He sat down on the edge of the bench behind him, rubbing his temples diligently. "The first thing that needs to be dealt with is getting everyone that's on our side back here on the ship. But that'll take some time."

Zim gave a small sigh and drearily looked up. "I can call Tiz and tell him to send in his fleet." he said in monotone. After he recieved a nod from his Tallest he quickly began typing a message to the Fleet Commander.

Dib looked over to Gaz as she raised a hand politely, for once, and addressed Purple. "Do you want everyone from the moon base? Or just those involved with the attack?"

"I want everyone. I don't care if all they did was serve everyone else coffee, I want them here." He shot a look over to Aranarth. "That means all of your officers too." When the elf gave a nod and went to work the Tallest turned the rest of his attention to Zephyre. "I don't suppose you'll want your old job back, will you?"

The Irken smiled and shrugged a shoulder. "I might, depends on what happens once we get everything else figured out... but I'd love my old job back."

Purple smirked and gave him a slight nod. "I'm sure the new Tallest wouldn't mind. Besides, you were top of your division."

Zephyre waved it off. "You know as well as I do everyone else worked just as hard."

"That doesn't mean they were just as good." Purple replied, crossing his arms with satisfaction.

"True."

Aranarth looked up and waved a hand to get the Tallest's attention. "They're on their way, but you'll have open another station, there wont be enough room."

"Tiz knows." Zim said quietly, holding Noah closer to him as he pulled his legs up onto the couch in a crossed position around the smaller Irken.

Purple nodded to himself and leaned forward, propping his chin on his hands and his elbows on his knees. "I'd also like to address the fact that the humans know."

"You'd need a Tallest for that." Dib said, not realizing he'd said anything until Purple glared at him. "Sorry..."

"I don't get it," Zephyre stood up and put his hands on his hips. "Why do we need a new one? You're perfectly capable of be-" He stopped as he was yet another person to be given the hand.

Purple narrowed his eyes at the former Elite and sat up straight. "We'll get to that in a minute." After Zephyre sat down with a huff Purple continued. "I understand that the Tallest would be making most of the decisions concerning this issue, but I need to let the rest of you know what this might entail."

Gaz scoffed and crossed her arms. "It's already caused planet wide panic... but at least the over population issue is finally getting addressed."

Dib elbowed her in the ribs and riteoulsy glared at her. "This isn't funny, Gaz!" he whispered, knowing he'd have to royaly pay for it later.

"The fate of planet Earth has already been interfered with enough, I don't want this to get any worse. However, we can't just act like nothinghappened, so I believe an allience is in order." Purple then heaved a heavy sigh and leaned forward again. "We'll just have to convince someone on that planet to listen."

The room went quiet for a minute and everyone looked around at everyone else, trying to think of something reasonable to say. As the air grew thicker everyone sighed with relief when a small Irken female bustled into the room.

"My Tallest!" she cried, waving her clipboard-esque divice around like it would speak her mind for her. "My Tallest! You've been out of communication! Where have you been! I've got people asking questions! I've got prisoners trying to break out! And someone made off with my coffee!"

The humans stared awkwardly at her while the Irkens rolled their eyes at the Advisor. She was an average height, her long antennae curled in the right places, her birght green eyes flared with worry, and her uniform seemed to boast quite a status.

Purple put a hand on top of her head to shut her up. "Riida, I know its chaos out there, but please keep everyone busy until we finish up here."

She gently pushed his hand away and put her fists on her hips. "I understand that you're busy, Sir. But people are STARK RAVING MAD OUT THERE!" she yelled, flinging her arms up for emphasis. "I can't make them wait any longer! I've tried everything! I've got to give them answers to _something_!"

He sighed again and leaned in closer. "Tell them we're chosing."

Riida's face went blank for about two seconds before she went off again. "What! But why! You've been Tallest for nearly three hundred years! You can't just... QUIT!"

"Riida-"

"No! I'm staying here until this is figured out and I wont leave until a new Tallest has been appointed... since you see fit to _leave_." She planted her feet firmly on the metal tile beneath her and silently stated that she wasn't budging.

Zephyre raised a brow and folded his arms across his chest. "You might as well just get this over with, there's no point in stalling."

Purple, with a heavy sigh, nodded silently and stood, looking wearily around the room. He'd been preparing for this speech for a while, but suddenly it made him sick. "Since we can't go to the Control Brains and do this properly the Advisor will serve as our witness." He then fully addressed the rest of the group. "I've been in position to control the Irken Empire for nearly three hundred years, and I firmly believe my time as Leader has long since ended. I was never fit to be Tallest, even though my morals are straight, and I feel that it should be up to someone much more capable to turn our society around."

The group grew rigid and quiet. Dib, Riida, Zephyre, Ara and his wife, Auzie, and Zim were already growing anxious, though Zim remained lifeless and distant. Everyone else didn't really care enough to get too excited, but tried to at least pretend to look interested.

"We've been devolving for hundreds of years, and if something doesn't change we'll drive ourselves into extinction. I feel personally responsible for most of this, and I wish I could do something more to help, but the new Tallest will do it better than I ever could hope to." He took a few steps forward and clasped his hands behind his back, then continued. "So, as I resign my position as Tallest, I greatfully hand it over to you." He turned fully towards one Irken and looked him straight in the eye. "Zim, you've been relieved of your Elite position and are now Tallest of the Empire."

Riida blinked slowly, then turned to leave. "Well, I'll tell everyone to get started on their bucket list early."

Zim's entire body instantly felt feeble and numb. Why? Why was Purple doing this to him? He didn't want this... "No," he stated firmly, shaking his heas slowly and he stood. "You know I can't."

"You have to." Purple said back, not moving a muscle.

As he grew paniced he began to shake and tremble. "I can't!" he shouted. "You know I'm in _NO_ position to lead _anyone_!"

"You don't have a choice!" Purple bellowed, knowing full well what he was doing to the other. He really hated to put Zim in this situation, but in the end he knew it was the best decision he'd ever make.

Zim narrowed his eyes and swiftly closed the gap between them, continuing his argument in a hoarse whisper. "I just lost my wife and witnessed enough deaths to last me the rest of my life, do you _honestly_ believe that putting _me_ in charge is a good idea?"

Purple smirked, but tried to hold the rest of his emotions in. "You'll adapt, you've done it before. There's no reason you can't do this, besides, you knew it was coming."

A low hiss poured from Zim's throat as he glared harder at the other. "I can't _function_ right now. Do you have _any_ idea how much it hurts for me to stand up? I feel like I'm going to be _sick_." he spat, nearly an inch from Purple's face.

The Tallest raised his brow and sighed. "I can give you twenty-four hours, but that's it. After that you'll be crowned, no questions." He put a hand on his shoulder and stepped around him to look at the others.

Everyone was in shock, either couldn't, or didn't, breathe, and didn't move. All eyes were on Zim and no one was paying a bit of attention to Purple, seeing how he just appointed the biggest Exile in Irken history as Tallest.

"I don't... understand." Dib looked past Purple, thought still talking to him. "What about Earth? What about... the rest of... us?" His body seemed to grow heavy as he slightly lurched forward. "I can't go back there by myself." Dib then internally grew cold as a low hiss, that he knew was directed at him, came from behind him.

"You aren't the only one here, _human_." Bryan spat, which was obvious to Dib because of the way he forced out that last word.

Dib didn't want to turn to meet the harsh glare he could feel on his back, knowing how vicious it could have been, as Zim had gotten cross with him before a few times. "Neither are you." If looks could kill he'd certainly be dead a few times over by now.

Bryan snarled hatefully and would have attacked the boy if his father hadn't held him back. Zim's stern voice also kept the other at bay, as a loud 'stop' echoed around the room.

Zim then held out his left arm silently, beckoning for his son. As Noah approached he was scooped up and briskfully carried off out of the room.

Silence followed.

The Elves huddled together and stared at the door and at each other. Bryan gripped his sister's shoulder as Zephyre kept a firm grip on both his arms. The mother sat on the edge of her seat with her hands over her mouth, tears streaming down her cheeks. Gaz hung her head respectfully while her brother continued to gape at the door. Purple never turned to look, squeezing his eyes shut as he internally screamed at himself to keep it together.

The last thing that any of them heard was the door slamming shut, leaving them to stare and cry.

* * *

Zim ignored the looks of bafflement and near hate as he strode down the halls. He didn't look back, he didn't wonder, he didn't care. He needed to be alone and had half a mind to shoot anyone who got in his way. But it'd only hurt him worse, he knew that.

Noah sat quietly in his arms, keeping his eyes trained on the ground to focus his mind on something. Normaly that would have made him sick, but he already felt like that so he didn't see any reason to stop.

The farther Zim walked the deeper they entered the older section of the Massive. It was still highly advanced, but to any other Irken it was primitive and old, though functional. The only reason it hadn't been upgraded like everything else was because they Tallest previously felt no need, their could have been spent on other, more important things.

The metal lining of the walls were rusting around the edges, some corners were missing, and some were bent around the nails. The lights weren't as efficiant or bright, the doors opened just to the side instead of up or splitting into diagonals. The glass of different rooms weren't textured, the wires for just about everything were exposed and damaged, and no one was there.

_Perfect_. Zim thought, letting his feet carry him as he trusted them more than his own thoughts at that point. Soon they came upon a hall filled with what looked like dorm rooms, only they were for Massive workers and drones. Zim stepped up to one and had to bend over to reach the scanner. Once his handprint had been approved the door slid open and the air rushed out.

The inside was simple; deep purple walls, soft carpet-like floor, a sort of bed, a small side table and a floating lamp. There was a closet to the right, which was probably still harboured some old unifroms and such.

Hesitantly, Zim stepped inside, setting Noah on the floor. The fact that he had went back was enough to make him want to cry until he was sick. He slowly walked forward and stopped in front of the lamp. It was shapped like a cone without a point, and it had collected a good amount of dust. Zim passed his hand underneath the bottom to turn it on and brushed the dust away.

It took the lamp a second to finally flicker to life, as it had been dormant for so many long years. But as his filled the room and pooled onto the walls and floor, the room didn't hardly lighten at all. However, Zim could now see the neglect and worn condition of the small room. He sat down and began to shake, he had been the only one to ever set foot into the room, otherwise it was empty and cold.

Noah walked farther into the light of the lamp and looked at his father. The way the shadows hid his face but lit his tears up like stars made Noah's heart catch in his throat. His stare trailed down to the large wet patche of the uniform where the tears dripped onto the floor. Then he followed the glossy streaks of light from his gloves down to the claws that clutched desperately onto the thick material beneath him.

Zim slowly pulled the rest of his body onto the bed and wrapped his shaking arms arouns his stomach, attempting to stabelize himself. At first he only let out short whimpers before they quickly progressed into drawn out whines.

Noah continued to stand in the light of the lamp and watch as the other started to cry louder and shake more violently. As much as it scared him to watch he knew it was something that his father needed, to let go. He only wished there was some way he could lift just a fraction of his pain.

For a brief moment Zim's cries seemed to die out, and Noah took the chance to quietly climb onto the bed and maneuver himself into Zim's lap. A few minutes passed and Zim continued to cry while Noah mindlessly blrushed the fallen tears off his own uniform.

When the silence grew to a suffocating level, Noah peered up with wide eyes and spoke. "Are we going to be okay?" he whispered, clutching onto the other.

Zim nearly choked on his own sobs and instantly quick trembling. His breathing ceased altogether and his entire body grew rigid. The tears fell harder and faster as he realized that he honestly didn't know. As he searched the black corners of the room for answers he clutched onto Noah, feeling as though he was his only real lifeline he had anymore. He didn't really have anyone else, not anyone that he could call his own. Not anymore.

He lurched forward and his cries came at full force, nearly ripping his lungs apart as he shrieked in anger. His throat was on fire and the pain in his head had long since numbed most of his body, thought he could still feel himself clutching tightly onto the Irken in his lap.

The walls prevented any sound from entering or leaving, so the shrill screams bouced off the walls and seemed to call back to them. They echoed eerily, almost like the spirit of death was breathing through the very walls of the room.

* * *

The group had sat quietly in the room for an hour, patiently waiting for someone to either return or say something to end the silence. There had been some thouughts to go and look for them, but no one had bothered to speak up.

Until one scythe haired boy was nearly choking on the air he was breathing. "Okay, can we please send someone to and get them?" He shrank into his seat as the eyes in the room trained on him. He swallowed and continued. "Well we can't sit here all day, we've got other people to worry about and an entire planet full of people who're running around screaming!"

Purple sighed and looked away. "He's right... We've given him long enough, if needs more time he'll have to wait until later." He then looked back at Dib. "You know him more than any of us, meet us on the main deck when you find him." Purple then left the room and disappeared down the hall.

Dib huffed to himself and took off in the opposite direction, hearing the rest of the group file out after him. He wandered the halls for a while, asking passerbys if they'd seen any sign of Zim, but most of them shook their heads and walked off. He only got one person who had seen him, but they gave Dib a very general direction as to where they saw the Irken in question.

After Dib had gotten himself lost in some older section of the Massive he heard a loud screetch from the opposite end of the hall. He dashed down the hall and skidded around the corner to the right, coming to a long hall filled with doors. As he slowly passed by he could hear a low whining noise and, after debating between two different doors, he picked one and started knocking.

The noise stopped.

"Zim? Are you in there?" Dib asked, recieving a hiss in response. "Come on, open the door." This time the Irken snapped at him, but Dib didn't understand. "Fine, we'll do this the hard way." he said to himself. He turned to the keypad and unfastened the loose screws. Then he reached underneath and pulled a few wires until the door slid open.

He wished he hadn't.

The sight he saw was plenty to make him sick several times over. He we met with two large, glossy eyes and barred fangs. The Irken was still whimpering, but snarled and hisses between breaths to show that he did _not_ want to be bothered.

Dib got the hint, and if he had a choice he'd gladly leave his friend alone. He'd been growled at before by the other, but he slightly feared for his life as he stepped inside. Zim had never dared to looke at anyone like the way he was then, saving that only for people he intended to kill. And the closer Dib got the farther away Zim shrank and more teeth he showed.

"Look... I know you're hurting... but we need you..." Dib stopped when he reached the edge of the bed, slowly extending his arms to the other.

Zim glared at him, but when he saw the other's face he felt aweful. He then graciouly took the other's invitation and buried his head into Dib's stomach, wrapping his arms around his torso. "I don't know what to do..."

With a a gentle hug, Dib pulled the other up and looked at him. "You have a lot of people you need to help right now.

"I can't... I can't help them."

"Don't say that, yes you can. They're counting on someone to turn things around for them, they need you." Dib pulled the other to his feet and straightened him out.

Zim looked down. "They hate me..."

"No they don't..." Dib know he was lying, and when Zim glared at him he tried a different approach. "Isn't this a good thing? I thought everyone wanted to be Tallest..."

Zim scoffed and looked back up. "They're fools. They don't know what they want."

"But you do. That's why they need you... Remember the first time you met her? And all she cared about was showing you happiness? That's what you need to do with them, show them something different." Dib put his hand on Zim's shoulder. "Remember, you're not alone anymore."

Zim scowled to keep himself from breaking down any further. "Why can't you be in charge? You'd do a better job than me."

"But it's not my place, it's yours. Purple said that if you still needed more time there's always later. But right now you've got a job to do." Dib said, backing away from the other.

As Zim stood shakily, bringing his sleeping child with him, he let himself one last violent tremble and silent heave before righting himself and heading towards the door. He walked silently, but upwright, showing any onlookers that they so much as looked at him the wrong way he'd make perfect use of the airlock.

"You know where the deck is, right?" Dib asked nervously, having no idea where they were and feeling totaly lost.

Zim turned and gave Dib an unamused look, but kept his mouth shut, for fear he'd snap at the boy. But as Dib flinched away from his scowl he felt bad, so he stopped and, with one awkward arm, pulled the other into a hug. "I'm sorry..."

Dib smiled slightly and pulled his friend closer. After a moment he pulled away and smiled brighter. "It's alright, I understand."

The two continued walking around the Massive, getting strange and hateful looks from most of the other Irkens. However, there were still a few who stopped to bow deeply at them as they passed.

When they entered an empty hall, Dib tapped Zim gently on the shoulder. "How come when most of the people are glaring at us some of them are bowing?"

"Some of them aren't taking my past into consideration and bowing anyway." Zim said flatly.

"Is that customary?" Dib conitued.

"I'm taller, they should _always_ bow to me. Or else I might pitch them out the airlock." Zim smirked inwardly, turning a corner and walking at a much brisker pace. "Hurry up, we're almost there." When they reached the large double doors they slid open with a hiss, revealing the large group of people inside.

The deck outlooked space from the opposite side of the doors, Earth was currently in view. Two plush thrones sat in the center of the platform, overlooking rows of computers and Techs. The workers hadn't moved, but were all curiously staring at the spectacle that had ensued amongst the group.

Gir, who had snuck into the ship with Zink, had gotten into an intense argument with Auzie about something along the lines of how Narwhals ended up in the ocean, why unicorns didn't still exist and how the two might be realted. Everyone else just slightly pitched in every once in a while, but otherwise stayed quiet.

Zim walked inside, causing everyone else to fall dreadfully silent. "I understand there's business to be done." He handed Noah over to Dib and walked up to Purple, putting his hands behind his back. "So, Elder, what do you suggest I do first?"

Purple smiled, almost gleefully, at his new title. Sure, being Tallest was fantastic and was a lot of responsibility that had others looking up to you for all the answers, but being an Elder was reserved only for those who were truly great at being Tallest, like Teal and Miyuki. "How about you weed out the rest of his followers."

With an evil sadistic grin, Zim walked over to one of the Techs and leaned over him. The other nearly flew from his seat as he hadn't been paying attention. "Send a transmission through the ship for me, will you?"

The Tech quickly oblidged and set up a transmission that would be sent to every monitor and intercom on the entire ship. Once the window had been screened, Zim cleared his throat and glared at the screen with extreme irritation. "This is your new Tallest speaking. This goes to everyone on board the Massive, if you're done picking on me, ridiculing me, calling me names, and humiliating me, you can stay. Otherwise, GET THE HELL OFF MY SHIP!... That is all."

The transmission cut and he turned back to face Purple. "I enjoyed that." he said, almost happily. "What next?"

Purple smiled wider. "That's not for me to decided... now is it."

* * *

Aneera: Whoa this took forever. But it's SUMMER! So hopefully I'll be updating a little more often.

Zim: ... wait... WHAAAT! o.e

Aneera: Review please! And take a look at the modified chapters if you haven't already, they're posted as a seperate story.

Zim: OHMYGODICAN'TBELIEVEITI'MTALLESTTHIS !

Author: Yes, yes, you're welcome. Don't kill yourself...

Zim: *hyperventalates and passes out*

Aneera: Too late.


	40. Marchin' On Pt 1

Tak marched hastily down the halls, glaring hotly at anyone that passed her by. She was so ready to give Zim a piece of her mind. When he had sent a signal to the moon base for everyone to leave and join them in the Massive, no one had ever bothered to tell her. The only reason she found out was because someone she was working with had the message paged to them, and she had said that all Irkens should have been notified as such. Bu not Tak. "No good, rotten, lowly half-wit."

She marched irritably into the Meeting Hall, ready to push Tallest Purple aside and hit Zim with the back of her hand. Except when she entered, Tallest Purple didn't look like Tallest Purple anymore... and... "Zim... why are you wearing robes?"

Zim glanced up from his tablet and gave the woman a half smile. "Hey Tak, we've been waiting for you."

"Waiting for me!" She could feel her blood boiling at his calm state of being. "How come every other Irken on the base got paged except me! How come you never bothered to notify me about this!" She balled her hands into fists and glared angrily at him.

Most of the other Irkens in the room either stared at her or gasped at the way she had just spoken to the Almighty One. The humans, save for the ones Zim knew, were oblivious to the comment and waved it off as nothing.

"I apologize, it was a last minute decision to have you all come," Zim replied flatly, though the others noticed there was a pinch of feeling to his words again, so he was feeling a little better some would say. "but now that you're here we can get started."

Tak folded her arms over her chest and marched over to Purple. "My Tallest, _what_ exactly is he doing?" she whispered furiously, puffing her cheeks out in irritation. "He's acting like he owns the place!"

The Elder smiled down at her and put a hand on her shoulder, saying softly, "Tak, he _does_ own the place."

Her face scrunched up in confusion and her hands rested on her hips. "Excuse me..." She walked off and stepped up behind her hated enemy, tapping him furiously on the shoulder.

"Ow, hey! What? I'm talking." Zim said, turning around and eyeing Tak irritably.

"What is going on? What are you doing? Stop acting like you're the freaking Tallest!" she whispered, trying not to make a scene in front of everyone.

Zim smiled fully at her now, looking a little smug. "No one told you yet, did they?"

"NO! No one has told me _anything_!" she declared, raising her voice slightly so that she wouldn't strain her throat. She looked around as the crowd of Irkens gave another surprised gasp, only this time it was louder and someone shouted to her, "He has been appointed as the Almighty Tallest!"

Tak's face fell dramatically. "You're. _JOKING_."

Zim smiled gleefully at her, feeling the ach in his spooch momentarily fade away at Tak's face of horror.

The girl paled instantly and marched over to the nearest couch, picked up the fluffiest pillow she could find, and screamed until her lungs hurt. Then, when she was composed, she viciously flung the pillow at Zim's head and marched lividly out of the room.

The Tallest then no longer felt happy as he had upset the girl. "Excuse me everyone..." he said quietly, jogging out the door after her. "Tak!" he called, running after her.

Tak stopped in the hall and turned to glare at him. "What! What do you want from me!"

"I want to talk to you!" he said, still a few yards behind her. When he finally did catch up he caught his breath and looked down at her. "Why did you do that?"

"BECAUSE!" she screamed, throwing her hands in the air. "We've been enemies since day one, fighting each other over EVERYTHING! And now you're the _TALLEST_! Are you kidding me!"

Zim's shoulders drooped forward as she glared harshly at him. "Why does this bother you so much?"

Tak growled at him and shoved him away. "Because you get EVERYTHING! You've always gotten everything! And now if I want anything I have to go out of my way to impress _YOU_! Of all people!" She lowered her hands, a rush of pressure entering her head quickly.

"What do you mean I've always gotten everything? I mean, I'm thankful for what I've got, but... it's not everything." he said quietly, gently putting a hand to her shoulder.

"But you're happy-"

"No Tak... I'm not happy." He pulled his hand away as his face hardened. "In fact I'm extremely upset right now, and if I didn't have a job to do I'd be locked away by myself right now."

She looked at him closely, not understanding what he was talking about. "Why? You've got a family, you're the leader of our whole society, you can do whatever and go wherever the _hell_ you want! What reason do you have for being unhap-"

"She's dying, Tak." he stated flatly, clearing that up as she moved to asked 'who'. "My wife is dying... and there's really nothing I can do for her."

Tak blinked and looked down, almost ashamed for assuming his happiness... almost. "That's better than not having anything. At least she was there to begin with." She turned around and held up her hand to show that she was done with the conversation, then disappeared around the next corner.

Zim sighed heavily and returned to the Hall, putting on the best fake smile he could. "Well Tak won't be joining us, but let's get started anyway." He resumed his place in the middle of the room and looked everyone over, pulling out his tablet and glancing over it now and again. "For now this battle is over and we've got the chance to talk about our future. This is directed to everyone, Humans included. Right now my species on the verge of what we refer to as 'The Dawning', which is where it was "prophesized" that someday we'd be turned back around and live the way we did when Miyuki was Tallest."

The Irkens in the room began whispering amongst themselves in disbelief that _Zim_ would be the one to start the Era. They had always known in the back of their minds that it was coming, but none of them thought it would be so soon and led by someone who used to be the shortest Irken on record.

"We've been devolving for many hundreds of years, and during my time on Earth I began to see that more clearly. I used to ignore it and think that it would never be during my lifetime, much less that I would be the one to lead it. But it _has_ to happen, and it has to happen _now_. We can't afford to live like this anymore or we're going to end up like the Greys and clone ourselves into extinction." He smirked to himself as the whispers grew and gasps echoed about the room again. "Yes, I do mean reproduction."

The crowd erupted with coughs and the sound of Irkens choking on their own saliva. One or two passed out on top of others and most of them yelped in surprise. One even verbally reacted; "But my Tallest! Most only _defectives_ have that kind of ability! Are you going to start letting them into our society?"

Zim stood up straight. "I'm defective."

Everyone stopped talking.

Completely.

The room died down and the whispers abruptly ceased in the middle of sentences. A few more Irkens fainted and ended up on the ground, scowls crossed the room, looks of horror and disbelief traveled from face to face, and no one had anything to say.

"That's right. You all heard me. I'm defective. I'm broken. I'm _different_." He stopped and surveyed the looks people gave him. "But you know what? So was Miyuki."

"That's a lie! She was perfect!" one shouted, glaring angrily at him.

Zim turned to him and took two steps forward, instantly towering over the other. "Yes... because she was defective. And so was most everyone else. Back then, the people you would consider perfect today were unhappy drones and never lived long. You are one of those drones."

The Irken cringed away and hissed. "What are you gonna do? Fix it?" he said, sarcasm dripping from his lips.

"Yes." Zim turned back and addressed the rest of the Irkens in the room. "You're all drones. You're all artificial perfection. And you're all unhappy. I know, I felt it."

Growls and hisses from all over the room were thrown at him, some taking fighting stances, others whipping out their weapons. They knew it was true, consciously, but no one wanted to believe it. Besides, they had artificial happiness, and they all believed that was good enough.

"We don't need some defective Tallest to tell us who we are!" someone else shouted, noticeably taller than quite a few others.

Zim turned to face him and, without changing his expression, walked silently over to the Irken. He only came up to Zim's waist, but that was a lot better considering the rest only came up to his knees. "Then who are you?"

Without hesitation, or any recognition that he had just insulted his Tallest, he saluted proudly and stated his profile. "Second Officer Vik for the Massive's Mainframe Database computer, part time Voot Series engineer and designer of the Spittle's sister ship; Cruiser X700, Sir!"

Zim nodded thoughtfully. "That's my favorite ship..."

"Thank you, Sir..." Vik trailed off, growing stiff as Zim knelt down in front of him. He could hear the whispers from behind him, of how strange the Tallest was for lowering himself to the level of someone so much smaller than himself.

"Then that's what makes you you, not what someone tells you, and certainly not where you are on the social ladder." He smiled gently, waiting for the other to respond.

Vik swallowed hard and blinked. "So uh... you're not gonna... you know... throw me out the air lock?"

Zim chuckled slightly and shook his head. "No, and I encourage you to stand up for yourself." After he had finished he stood back up, resumed his place in the room and looked around. "I don't want this to be a one sided decision, I want you all to have a say. But you _will_ be required to do a few things you won't want to."

Groans from various soldiers slipped and heavy sighs came from everyone, including humans.

"I'm sorry guys, but we've got to change."

* * *

Tak sat in her ship quietly, Mimi sitting obediently at her side. "Why did this have to happen, Mimi?" she asked.

Mimi looked up and coked her head to one side, letting her antennae bob and bounce around. "What do you mean, Master?"

The girl sighed heavily and rested her chin in the palms of her hands, letting a scowl cross her features. "Zim's Tallest, now if I want anything I have to impress him to get it... It's not fair."

The S.I.R. looked back down at the floor and pondered her Master's dilemma, knowing that there really wasn't much she could say in the matter. "Maybe he'll be different?" she offered, hoping that sounded valid enough to be some sort of answer.

Tak scoffed and pulled her hands away, crossing them in her lap. "Different? He's Zim, Mimi, he may have changed but that doesn't mean we aren't enemies."

Mimi could understand that, she had been with her Master whenever they went at each other, but something else was now also in play. "But if you're still his enemy and he's Tallest... won't that mean you'd be an enemy of the Empire?"

The Irken sat up and scowled harder, balling her hands into fists. "With him in charge there likely won't _be_ an Empire for very long." She unclenched her fists at the sound of the entrance gate opening, peering up to see who had entered the docking station. "Dib?"

"TAK!" the boy called, wandering around the different ships. "Tak, where are you!" Dib stopped walking when he saw the girl step out of her Cruiser, nearly running towards her when he regained his train of thought. "Tak, why are you out here?"

"I could be asking you the same thing." she replied coldly, scowling at the boy in front of her.

Dib's shoulders drooped a little as he relaxed from exhaustion. "You kind of stormed out of the room and took off, I thought maybe-"

The woman glared at him, narrowing her dark amethyst eyes. "If you're going to sit here and preach to me than don't bother wasting my time. You and I hate each other, always have, and always will. So don't pretend to be nice to me now."

The boy's face fell and his glasses slid to the end of his nose. "I haven't always hated you... Except when you made off with Noah, but-"

"Save it."

"Are you always this bitter towards everyone?" Dib asked, suddenly irritated at her attitude.

Tak was slightly taken aback by the question, but quikly returned the scowl. "I don't have friends, okay? So yes, I'm like this with _everyone_."

Dib drop the arms he didn't know he had crossed. "Why? All you cared about was being an Invader and now they're all being called back, so why not lighten up and find something better to do?"

At this point Tak had had enough of the human child and snapped at him. "What else am I going to do! There's nothing here for me anymore! He's taken that away from me too!"

"Then live on Earth..."

Tak stood up straight and her scowl softened. "What?"

Dib let out a breath and repeated himself. "Live on Earth. You may not be able to really get a job on the Massive or anything but I'm sure there's something on Earth you can do. Besides, you seemed to like it while you were there..." he trailed off and looked down at his feet.

The Irken pursed her lips and leaned back against her Voot. "What's the point? I'll be just as different there as I will here."

As his head lifted Dib opened his mouth to speak, having to rearrange his sentance a few time to get it right. "They'll get used to you guys, they'll have to." He waited for the girl to look up at him. "Zim's making a treaty with Earth so he can have it put under protection. You'll be able to go back and forth freely if you want."

Tak had never had such freedom in her life before, and it wasn't like she had much to leave behind, besides Irk, which was never really all that pretty to begin with. "I suppose... but I've been so hell bent on one thing for so long I don't know how to start over..."

"Well," Dib started, holding out his hand. "Making friends is always a good start." He didn't smile, afraid that he might somehow offend her.

Tak looked down at Dib's hand, her body going lax as she took the gesture.

* * *

Riida briskly padded down the main hall of the Massive, a small group of people trying to follow her. How she had been in charge of his family, she would _never_ know, but they were seriously starting to drive her up a wall.

The group of five looked oddly around while trying to keep up with the rather small Irken who was leading them around. The other Irkens in the hall glanced up at everyone, pressing themselves against the wall to make room for their height.

Bryan leaned over to his mom and whispered, "Why are they so afraid of us?"

She looked back at her son and smiled, knowing her answer would piss him off. "I think you should ask your father that one,"

Noah squeaked as Bryan tightened his grip around him. "I am _not_ talking to him," he hissed, giving his father a quick glance.

Jaxie turned her head all the way around and dropped her smile. "I'm just as guilty of all of this as he is. I may not have been as eager to make it happen, but I didn't actively try to stop him. And it really was for your own good,"

"My own good? Really? I think I would have been better off knowing about it at _least_." After that Bryan harshly snapped his head in a different direction, scowling at one of the message boards they passed, noting how the Irkens crowded around it jumped upon seeing him.

Riida stopped abruptly and nearly kicked open the door in front of her. "MY TALLEST!" she screeched, shoving past everyone between her and her target.

Zim sighed and turned around. "What is it, Riida?"

The Advisor pulled a chair away from one of the many computer desks lining the walls of the room and stood upon it to better make eye contact. "I understand that you're busy, and I can appreciate that. But I'm _NOT_ babysitting your family for you! They're insane! I can't take it anymore!"

The Tallest tensed up upon seeing them awkwardly standing around the door. "Alright, then go take care of this for me," he asked, handing her the tablet in his hand.

Riida groaned but happily took the new job over the old one, then returned the chair and quietly bustled out of the room. Once she was gone Zim heaved slightly and his shoulders followed suit.

As he made his way over to the group he couldn't help but feel guilty for the way he felt about them. Of course they were his family, but the only person he seemed to be close to was his brother. He didn't feel anything for the two who were supposedly his parents, and he tried to think about how Aneera had felt when Noah was terrified of her. Sure, Noah knew that she was still family, but it must have felt awful knowing that her own son didn't want to have anything to do with her. Then again, that was a different situation and-

"Where have you been?" Bryan asked angrily, holding Noah out at arm's length.

Zim gingerly took his son and looked tiredly at the other. "Just trying to get everyone to cooperate with me."

Bryan didn't look very impressed. "You left us with your Advisor, I don't accept your reasoning."

"Yeah well, I'm sorry, but I've got two completely different civilizations to deal with at the moment and right now I'm just trying to focus on breathing," he retorted, his blank stare suddenly making the other uncomfortable.

Bryan opened his mouth to start some sort of argument, but was gently moved aside by his mother. "Is there anything we can do for you, dear?"

Zim was caught off guard by the endearing term, but never let it cross his face. Instead he sighed heavily for the hundredth time that day. "Not really, I've got Riida running around enough as it is, and I already feel bad about that."

Jaxie only smiled brighter, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Well, if you need anything, we're here for you."

Bryan huffed and looked away, hoping that her statement did not apply to him.

"Thank you... Um," Zim really didn't want his family, which he had noticed to be quite dysfunctional, to stay onboard with him, but he felt that they'd be angry if he tried to politely ask them to just go away. "I can give you a room for the night, there's a suit on one of the upper levels big enough for all of you."

"I CALL IT!" Auzie shoved her way to her brother's side and waved her arms around. "Spare bed is mine!" Zim winced at the hyper active child, but put on a fake smile anyways.

Zephyre smirked inwardly, folding his arms across his chest. "I think we could stay a night or two, at least until you get things going."

The only family that Zim had ever really been close enough to in order to see how it worked was Dib's, and even his was barely a family. It was hard to wrap his mind around it, but Zim took the gesture as more of their concern for him than anything else. He also figured that being around his own family would help in respect of the fact that he is now an only parent. His gut dropped and he tried very hard not to run off in a random direction to find somewhere to hide until this all blew over.

"Follow me," he said quietly, leading them to their new quarters.

* * *

Out in space it was hard to differentiate night and day, when to sleep and when to wake, and about what time it was compared to whatever planetary standards you were using. But since Zim practically grew up in space he had a knack for figuring out what 'time' it was, though time really wasn't relevant. The lights on the Massive helped a lot too.

Most of the ship and his new followers were asleep and the few people with a night shift were standing silently at their posts. His family was in their quarters for the night and Noah was fast asleep on a nearby chair.

Of course he was instantly issued a new room, which wasn't gargantuan, he really didn't like a bunch of space, and it was only the two of them. But it was nice, and they had plenty of room, though it wasn't much compared to an actual Tallest's suit, which Purple really didn't want to give up. At the moment, though, he was content, which was saying a lot considering his mental state of mind wasn't so great.

He needed to get out though, to do something. Even though all of the humans were back home, including the people on the moon base, and his political chores were taken care of, he still felt like he needed to get up and move. Maybe it was the slight edge of paranoia, or hysteria, or some symptom of some weird state of depression, but he needed to _move_.

Not knowing how, or why, he had ended up at the medical bay, he found himself sitting quietly next to the lifeless looking Aneera. She hadn't been moved from the bed, she was still bleeding considerably, and her vital signs weren't all that great. But she wasn't dead, and Zim could count that as a plus, at least.

"Can't sleep?"

Zim looked up, more confused by the comment than whom it was coming from, usually Irkens don't sleep at all and the term is _rarely_ ever said among his people. But he didn't argue against it and just gently nodded.

Niles, the doctor who was looking after the girl, took a seat next to him. "I can imagine, a lot happened."

At first Zim really wanted to yell at him, but as soon as he opened his mouth the energy just flew from his body. So he managed a "Yeah," instead.

The two sat together in silence for a moment, the hum of the machinery echoed soothingly around the room. It wasn't a very big room, it only had two beds and a counter the ran along the three walls that didn't have a door. Zim found himself looking intently at the different chemicals around the room and trying to name them off the top of his head to keep himself from falling asleep.

"I get that this is all hard for you, and usually I wouldn't do this unless someone _really_ needed it, but if the pain gets any worse I've got something that might help." Niles was a medical drone, but he had more personality already than any drone Zim had ever had the displeasure of talking at.

"So far it hasn't really registered," he half lied. "It's sometimes hard to feel anything, and other times it's just..." he cut himself off, looking back up at the vials of chemicals.

Niles looked up at the other slightly, slightly hunching forward. "You take it off, you know."

Zim came back to reality and looked down at him. "Huh?"

"Your PAK, I mean. You don't need it anymore, all it's doing is confusing your body into thinking it's fine when in reality you've probably got a list of injuries that I know you haven't bothered to look at." He smiled knowingly.

"It's not really any use to me anymore anyways... But the sedatives help." Zim never was much for putting chemicals into his system unless he had to, but now his own PAK felt more like a parasite than a part of himself.

Niles nodded, then shook his head as he went on. "But eventually you'll have to remove it. I saw what happened, I was there, and I've seen this enough to times to know that once it's damaged like that it'll start uselessly feeding you chemicals that you don't need." He paused for a moment to let the other consume his words. "It'd be easier if you got rid of it, you'd feel a lot better afterwards, especially since your body was never designed to have one to begin with."

Now Zim looked at him fully, his eyes half closed and tired. "Will it hurt?"

"Does it matter?" Niles didn't particularly know Zim on a personal level, but he's seen him in pain before, and if someone could survive waking up in the middle of an operation of a PAK disassembling they could live with getting it removed.

Zim was silent before he answered. "I guess not at this point." He was quiet again as his eyes drifted upwards to his wife laying on the bed. "How is she?"

Niles didn't particularly want to touch on the subject, but he didn't want to refuse the question either. "Well, she's obviously not good, and I think the excess dose of pain relievers her PAK is giving her has put her in a light coma. I'm afraid that if hers isn't removed too that it'll start overdosing her body." He stopped and let his words die out as she moved.

Her hand twitched slightly, then stilled as she rolled her head to the side. A look a sudden discomfort crossed her features and she let a light groan pass through her lips. Before Niles had the chance to check her monitors her hands flew to her head and she screamed, arching her back as the pulse of hysteria and anxiety coursed through her brain.

* * *

Aneera: Ugh, late. late late late Late Late Late LATE LATE LATE _**LATE**_.

Author: Sorry guys, updates have been slow due to the fact that my school thinks its funny to make us work like slaves. SLAVES. However, things have started dying down and hopefully my updates wont be so few and far between. I hope to get another Modified Chapter in soon too, so look out for that. (or not, I'm sure most people have already forgotten this fic existed... ah well. I'M WRITING ANYWAY JUST TO TAKE UP COMPUTER SPACE. SO HA!)

Aneera: late late late late late late late late late late late late late late late ...

Author: Don't make me drug you.


	41. Marchin' On Pt 2

Aneera's screams ripped through the small med bay room, her body thrashing around and clutching at the sheets frantically. Her eyes were forced shut but tears slowly started building up around the corners from the pressure to her head from the scream.

"Hold her down!" Niles shouted hurriedly, waiting until Zim had successfully held her down to give her a separate dose of sedatives. "Back off," he said gently as they both slid off the side of her bed.

Her thrashes faded to desperate twitches and then nothing, she was still.

Zim was panting lightly from the excitement. "What happened?" he asked, resting his hands on his knees.

"Well, she was overdosed. Certain chemicals the PAK gives off as painkillers can have some pretty gruesome side effects if they come in doses too large." Niles tossed the syringe he had used into a small tub of liquid on the counter.

"Like what?" Zim asked curiously, staring fully at the medic.

Niles went over her stats on the computer while he talked. "Usually just horrible series of frightening images."

"What, you mean like nightmares?" the Tallest stood and dropped his hands at his sides.

After a moment of contemplation the other nodded slightly. "Of sorts, yes. That's why we need to remove her PAK as soon as possible, it wont help her as long as she's in such an unconscious state." He moved to sit back down and sighed.

Zim fidgeted with the hem of his new uniform, making a mental note to get a few things changed, the skirt needed to _go_. It was exceedingly hard to move in and, in all honesty, it looked a little feminine. "When can you do it?"

Niles looked up, searching the face of his Tallest very carefully. "For her, I can do it first thing tomorrow. For you... whenever you're comfortable."

With a nod Zim looked back down into his lap, tracing a metal floor tile with the tip of his boot. "I can try to come in sometime tomorrow evening, if you've got some free time."

"I've got all day," he said with a smile, making a mental note of the lack of repsonse from the other.

* * *

"Are you sure about this? I think you're jumping to extremes."

"This is a big deal, maybe you should think about it a little longer before going through with it."

"What if something goes wrong? You'll die!"

"If you go through with this you're going to make me a nervous wreck! And then what happened when you end up dead?"

"Will you please take this seriously? I think you're going about this the wrong way!"

Zim was now certain that mothers were only good for fussing. That's all she did all day long. Fuss. Fuss over his decision. Fuss over his chances of dying. Fuss over the fact that he wasn't putting much thought into it. Hell, she fussed over the fact that just because he left a small portion of his breakfast, which she had made special, untouched that it was somehow going to mean life or death later on.

He had only stopped by to inform them of what was going on and to see of they were doing alright. He ended up spending a good three hours there while his mother had vicious mood swings over the whole thing.

As the the early afternoon came upon them he said he'd return before the operation so they could decided wether or not they wanted to accompany him. Mindless chores kept him busy for most of the day and he didn't tell anyone, except Riida, that he was getting his PAK removed, otherwise people might start an uproar and that was the last thing he needed.

When the hour finally rolled around Jaxie agreed to stay in the room with Noah and Auzie as neither of then had _any_ interest in watching. Zim could see how awkward Noah felt, and he did feel bad about leaving him even though he knew he shouldn't, but he could worry about that later. At the moment he was trying to find a comfortable position on the hard metallic table he was laying on.

Zim busied himself with carefully assessing the room to keep himself busy. It was the same room where his PAK had been dismantled, fitting and ironic he thought. It was also kind of strange how the tiny white room still felt just as uninviting as the first time. The only color, aside the white and chrome, was the weird glowing vials along the table in the back, which he couldn't see because the table he was on faced the opposite direction. He craned his neck to the side to look through the large glass window, his father and brother were watching him carefully.

Even though Zim wasn't an expert on emotions by far, he could tell that Bryan wasn't really thrilled to be around the other, but his father seemed sort of indifferent about it, which was weird because-

"HEY!" he yelped, jerking away from whatever had just stabbed him. "What are you _doing_!"

Niles looked at him flatly, holding up a small pen-like thing with an electrical tip. "I never said this was going to be pleasant. But if you would let me explain the procedure you'd at least know what to expect."

At first Zim really didn't want to know the ugly details, but now he wasn't so sure that being surprised was such a great thing. "Just... just make it sound as non painful as possible, okay?"

With an unimpressed roll of his eyes, Niles rattled off the procedure in a very monotone groan. "First, I have to see where it's been attached. Then I have to detach your skin from the edges so I can get to the wires. Then I have to override the programming so it'll let go of your spinal column. After that I pull it out, fix up any broken discs, slightly rewire your nerves, and stitch you back up before you lose too much blood."

Zim's expression won _all_ the cakes.

"_**WHAT**_!" he howled, trying to slam his restrained hands into the table. "I thought you said- AAAH!"

Niles took no hesitation in proceeding just to shut him up, he forgot that Aneera was quiet for him only because she was in a coma. However, after the yelping got too annoying Niles issued him a towel so he'd at least be quiet. Other than that he was able to quickly move on without doing hardly any permanent damage, though scars weren't completely escapable. "Okay, so now I have to pull it out," he looked up through the window at the other two boys. "This isn't going to be pleasant so if you've got a weak stomach I suggest you turn around."

Oddly enough it was Bryan who instantly turned his back on them, holding a hand up to his mouth and squeezing his eyes shut. For being a ruthless killer he was quite embarrassed of his queasy nature.

Zim craned his neck around to look worridly at Niles. "Just, be gentle okay?"

Niles only scoffed in response as he situated himself on top of the other, getting a good grip on the large metal pod. "On three. One... Two... THREE!"

There were plenty of gasps, gags, screams, and fowl words for the whole room, though most of them belonged to Zim, everyone else just cringed away at the amount of blood. It definitely wasn't painless, judging by the pitch of his scream, but he was still alive and that counted for something.

"Alright alright alright! Calm down!" Niles shooed away the rest of the medics, grabbed a handful of cotton balls and went to work.

It was quite the opposite of what Niles had expected, because considering Zim's lack of any sort of real emotion he was being quite loud. Niles honestly expected him to sink into his unhappiness and just put up with the pain. But even though he felt horrible about it he had to keep working, he was just glad that his nervous system was a lot more clean and intact than he was prepared for. Zim's spine, however, was a different story.

Once the other got up enough air to speak he looked back again and asked, "How is it? Because it _hurts_."

"Well, I don't have to really do anything to your nerves except sauder a few back together... But," he paused, grabbing another fistful of cotton balls. "Well... I don't know... I guess they're okay."

"What? What's okay?" Zim asked frantically, his eyes trying desperately to see the damage, but feeling it full force instead.

After another pause Niles asked him, "Do you have back problems at all?"

Zim winced before he answered. "No, why?"

"Then I suppose you're fine, now relax so I can finish, I don't like how much blood you're losing." Niles pushed him down and diligently went to work on stitching him up and melting the skin back together. This went on for a very long twenty minutes before he finally set his things aside and admired his handiwork. "Now I can give you painkillers."

With a grunt Zim sat himself up once the restraints were released and glared at his medic. "Well what's the point now?"

Niles only laughed in response and gave him the surprise shot anyways, waving off the unfriendly words thrown his direction. "Now if you start getting stiff or if the pain gets any worse come see me, otherwise you can go home now."

"That's it? You don't want me to go through therapy or anything?" Not that Zim would even consider to agree to such a condition, but he thought it kind of odd that he just went through surgery and now he's free to go.

The other shrugged and waved at him. "Not unless you think you need it."

"Thanks, bye." Zim was out the door with his shirt in two seconds, stopping outside the door to grimace. When he looked up the other two suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Well," Bryan started, putting his fists on his hips. "How do you feel?"

Zim looked at him and scowled, turning around to show him the damage. "How do you think I feel?"

Zephyre turned to walk away, snickering the whole time. "Come on you two, your mother's probably worried herself to death... again."

* * *

In all honesty Zim considered ditching them to go to Niles' section of the hospital to see Aneera, but Bryan would have none of that and dragged him by the hem of his shirt all the way back to their quarters.

Jaxie was at the door before her boys were and was switching between yelling at them and asking how Zim was, which was quite annoying. "I can't believe you went through with it, you could've died!" After that she was suddenly concerned. "How do you feel, though? You look like you should rest, and you should probably eat something."

After the fifth attempt to shoo her away Bryan finally just told her to give his brother some space, and that they'd call if she was needed. Once she was gone he helped Zim lay down and got him something to eat, prepared to baby him for the rest of the day if need be.

"You know," Zim started, pulling a pillow from the couch up under his chin. "It's kind of weird that you're the one babying me instead of Mom." His face scrunched up at the word, it was the first time he'd used it to describe the lunatic female.

Bryan sat down on the floor next to him and handed him a cookie. "Are you kidding? I used to baby you all the time when we were little."

Zim blinked at him, shooting a glance at Noah as he climbed up on the couch with him. "What do you mean?"

"You're my little brother, I'm supposed to take care of you, stupid," Bryan replied, shoving a glass of pink liquid in the other's face. "Here, this'll make you feel better."

"Will it?" Zim asked, swishing the liquid around in the glass.

"I don't know, usually you didn't question me when I said stuff like that." he said, getting back up to grab his coat from the other room.

Once Bryan was gone Noah scrambled to the other side of the couch and buried himself between the pillow and his father. He was never particularly cuddly, but he had his moments every once in a while and felt incredibly lonely at the moment. He smiled to himself as he was given the same affection back, pushing himself closer to the warmth coming off of the other.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked suddenly, curling up into himself.

Zim looked down and smiled, curling around the other despite the protest from his back. "I'll be fine." he said, suddenly realizing that at least an hour had passed since it had been removed, making him think that maybe he really wasn't built for one, most people would have died after ten minutes.

Maybe things will start to change. Maybe they'll get better.

* * *

Within the next few months things started to flux between settling down and flaring back up again. After his family had left Zim was on his feet all the time with things to do and get taken care of. It was odd how quickly the Irken race accepted him as Tallest, and maybe it was because he was just generally nicer than the others had been, but he wouldn't really know because he was ignorant most of the time.

Once he had gotten into the swing of things, and his back stopped throbbing, he was able to get enough work done in one day so that he'd had plenty of down time in the later part of the day. Usually he would just finish up whatever needed his attention and then go hide in his room for the rest of the night.

Noah, who had regained his height after the ships atmospheric levels had been adjusted, got used to fending for himself. After Zim had taken the initial plunge into complete depression he was just one more chore Noah had to do every day, which really upset him because he hated to think of his own father as a burden, even though he was sometimes.

He never really thought much of his father's condition, he figured it'd pass eventually and waiting it out and just being there was probably the best idea. Though, he got concerned when Zim's little mood swings started getting violent.

Zim burst through the door to their "house", scowling so hard Noah was sure his face would freeze like that. He stormed through the living room and into the kitchen, picked up a soda and disappeared around the corner, violently slamming the door to his bedroom.

At first Noah thought this was going to be just like every other day, when Zim would sit in there for the rest of the night, not to be seen again until morning. He was very wrong.

After Noah had gotten comfortable on the couch with something to read the silence was shattered. He turned his head to look past the kitchen and into the hallway just as Zim came marching hotly in his direction. "What's wrong?" he asked cautiously, looking up innocently at the other.

Zim glared viciously down at Noah for a brief second before turning his attention to the large screen mounted on the wall across from him. Once the monitor was turned on and Riida's unhappy face lit up the screen everything started going downhill.

Noah got up from the couch and watched from a few feet away as they argued loudly about something that Noah had no knowledge of. The two went back and forth for a minute or so, each getting louder with every comment until Zim was screaming at the other.

"Look," Riida said, holding up her hands to try and calm her Tallest down. "I understand that things are still hard for you, but you've got a job to do," she said sternly, holding her stare.

"No, Riida, you don't have _ANY_ idea! How am I supposed to do my job when I can barely take care of myself!" Zim howled, cold chills prickling his skin.

Riida dropped her hands and puffed out her chest. "You need to stop acting like a child! I'm trying to help you but you need to help me first!"

Zim really couldn't argue much with the fact that he was acting childish, so he just threatened instead. "If I'm acting so much like a child then why am I still here! You know better than anybody else that I'm the least qualified for this!"

"That's a lie and you know it! If you leave all that's going to tell people is that you're a coward!" Riida didn't like to insult him, she genuinely liked him when he wasn't whining.

At this point Zim starting to shake, clutching the tablet he had been holding so hard that Noah wondered how it wasn't broken. "Wouldn't be the worst I've been called."

"Well what do want me to call you! You can't take care of yourself, you're a pathetic excuse for leader, and as far as I'm concerned you aren't much of a father either!" She knew she was hurting him, but it was the only way to hopefully help his ego kick in so he'll storm down to the bridge and 'show them'.

Zim's blood boiled and he flung the tablet across the room, nearly missing Noah as it smashed against the wall. "**THEN WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT ME TO DO!**"

"Get down here and start doing something about it!" The Advisor cut off the video before she could be argued with any further, hoping that she pissed him off enough to get him down to the bridge.

It didn't take but a fraction of a second before Zim was gone, not saying a single word to the trembling child left alone in the living room.

For a while Zim was in a constant state of irritation because of his little spat with Riida, which only made Noah feel more awkward about being around his father. Usually he just felt bad because he father felt bad, and normally just hanging around the other for a little while made Zim a little less seclusive.

However, because Zim was essentially pissed off for the majority of about three days, Noah didn't want to have anything to do with the other. He had seen his father angry before, it could be quite terrifying, but in this case all it did to Noah was irritate him.

During one of those three days Zim had been giving the day off from his duty as Tallest so that he could, as Riida put it; "tend to his responsibilities of being a _father_," because she knew of his habit of living in his bedroom for hours on end.

It wasn't working. He was just sitting on his bed refusing to eat, move, or sleep. And even though Riida had dropped the issue he was still irritated with her.

Noah had just let it slide as he really didn't expect Zim to be social with him anyways. Though when he attempted to lighten his father's mood by baking him cookies he was royally ticked off when they were refused.

Zim flicked his eyes upwards to watch Noah enter, but quickly returned them to his hands. He didn't feel like being bothered, he _never_ felt like being bothered.

"Hey, you haven't eaten anything all day." Noah held out the plate to offer it to the other, but Zim only pushed it away from himself. "Come on, they'll make you feel better." As Zim shook his head Noah set the plate down and sat on the bed on front of his father, holding a cookie out in front of Zim's face. "Here."

"No." Zim stated flatly, glaring half-heartedly at the other. When he realized that Noah wasn't going to move he tried something different. "Don't you have something better to do than to try and force me to eat?"

"Don't you have something better to do other than waste your life in here and forget I exist?" Usually Noah wouldn't push it that far, but he was getting put off himself.

Zim glared harder and slightly raised his head.

"You're not intimidating me, frankly you stopped being intimidating a while ago, now you're kind of annoying." If Noah wasn't positive that Zim knew his son's statement to be completely true, he would back off by now. But he was determined to get his father to eat something and at least move to the living room.

"You're kind of annoying too," Zim said back, never softening his stare.

"You're more of a burden than anything." Noah spat, his own glare coming on.

"So are you."

"Maybe you should get out, you're starting to look a little _sick_."

"Maybe you should grow a few inches, you're looking little _unimportant_."

The back and forth of insults continued for a good minute or so, their voices raising in volume and in irritation until truly offensive things started getting thrown around.

"All you ever do is lay around and mope! I'm surprised they haven't found someone to replace you yet!"

"Well if I'm so horrible then why don't you go find someone else to take care of you!"

"Maybe I will! At least then someone will pay attention to me!"

"You know, maybe none of this would have happened if you hadn't been born!"

Noah's face fell back into a blank stare and he dropped the cookie on the bed, slid back onto his feet, and left the room, muttering "Fine..." under his breath. He closed the door behind him and crossed the tiled floor of the kitchen into the plush living room.

The room was dark as the lights started dimming, indicating it was time to switch shifts so that others could rest. Noah flung himself on the couch with his arms crossed over his chest, nearly missing the edge of the glass table as he swung his legs onto the cushions.

At first he was just annoyed with the whole situation, his father could be a real pain sometimes, but it took him a minute to realize what exactly had been said to him. If he hadn't been born then his parents never would have gotten in trouble for it in the first place... He never would have wound up on the Massive and his parents never would have had to get him... Maybe his mother would still be perfectly fine... Maybe things would be different.

He hadn't cried in so long, but he didn't fight the tears that rolled down his cheeks, he didn't fight his body as it rolled over and curled inwards, he didn't fight the silent whimpers that escaped his lips. He didn't fight the feeling of being completely alone.

And for a while he just let himself feel, then it started to give him a headache so he rolled over and picked up his tablet off the table, reading usually kept his mind off of things. Noah hadn't picked up the habit of reading until he started getting bored laying around the house by himself while his father was out doing work. Ever since then he just enjoyed the feeling it gave him, it felt sort of like escaping to some other time and place.

As he started getting immersed in the story he felt something large and warm wrap around his body. At first he was startled by the sudden extra body weight against him, but as he realized who and what it was he relaxed. For a moment it was quiet and the loud ragged breathing from the other was the only things that could be heard.

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly, clutching the other to him. "I shouldn't have said that."

Noah really didn't have a response, so he just let his father continue with the apology.

"I would never regret having you, and I know I've been a terrible father. I'm doing the best I can and I-"

"It's okay... really," Noah looked up and smiled, despite how much he wanted to be angry with his father for saying what he did.

Zim looked down at his son, not entirely believing that their conversation was over, but in the end sleep sounded a lot more inviting than talking, which would probably morph into another fight anyway. Within a few minutes he fell limp and his dreams started taking over.

Then his mind was filled with nightmares.

* * *

It was about sunrise on Earth when Zim was smacked back into the conscious world, his blood pumping and his head dizzy with anxiety. When he opened his eyes he could see the dim overhead lights reflecting off the smooth metal walls, making the dull maroon color vibrant and pink. As his eyes focused he could make out Noah leaning over him with his hand poised to strike again. "What happened?" Zim groaned, gently rubbing the side of his face.

"You were flailing around on the couch and you sounded like a zombie, I thought something was wrong," he replied, his face slightly bored and his hand still ready to swing.

Zim held his head in his hands and focused on the glare that was streaked across the glass top table, hoping to make everything slow down and stop moving. He never really remembered bad dreams making him so nauseous or light headed, but he had been working pretty constantly for a while, so he guessed it was just stress, it was easy to blame everything on that these days. "Okay, but next time you smack me I'll hit you back."

Noah stood up and lightly nodded his head. "Fair enough." Even though his father seemed in slightly lighter spirits he still knew that sooner or later in the day there would be some horrible outburst of anger, so he kept his showing of emotions at a minimal, maybe that might help level things out.

After that Noah went back to bed in his own room, closing all the windows and doors so that the deep purple walls looked black, he couldn't sleep with lights on. Zim cleaned himself up and put on a fresh set of robes, put a cookie in his mouth and headed off for the bridge, hoping to get there before Riida called him out for it. Most of the day was still just attending to little errands and one four hour meeting about Earth's affairs with Irk and how to clean up relations between them (the previous Tallest) and all the civilizations that had payed for their harsh leadership. After about the first hour of said meeting Zim was bored to death and was very tempted to take his plate and fling it at someone. He knew he was a violent person, but lately he had started to notice his sudden mood swings, but they didn't worry him too much and he figured Niles had enough to deal with aside from Zim's emotional traumas.

The only thing that was accomplished during the four hours was that they were going to hold another meeting (or Interplanetary Congregational Assembly of Leaders and Ambassadors) on Irk so that Zim could clear up any bad relations other civilizations might have with the Irken species. Other than that, it was a senseless group of arguing buffoons that Zim wanted to throw out the airlock.

While Zim was working around the ship Noah had taken to setting up his things they had brought from the house, though mostly his drums. It was nice to have the house to himself because then he could play as loud as he wanted without hearing about it from his father, and it helped him let off some steam. But when he wasn't playing or cleaning his drums he had oddly found peace in the large library in the back of the ship. At first he had thought it was odd for such an advanced species to still keep paper books, but he soon found that most of them came from other planets and were one-of-a-kinds.

Sometimes Dib offered to come aboard and help out, usually with technical things (he had finally gotten into college early and was majoring in mathematics and culinary art) or just with occupying Noah by giving him some company. For a little while he had felt kind of distanced from Zim, and he had his contributions to the arguments and fights, but eventually he was openly invited back into the Tallest's life like it had been when Zim was on Earth.

That evening when Zim returned to the suite he was none too happy. Noah was curled up on the couch wrapped up in a blanket, a book in one hand and a cookie in the other. He wasn't surprised that Zim was in a foul mood, but he was surprised when he slightly paused by the archway of the kitchen, pulled his fist back, then rammed it into the wall in front of him. The metal panel caved inwards as the bang echoed in the room, popping slightly back when Zim lowered his fist.

Noah didn't say anything as his father disappeared into his room with the plate of cookies he snatched from the kitchen, he figured that it had just been an abnormally awful day. However, when the plate was heard crashing into the wall about twenty minutes later he decided that maybe he should try and talk to Zim, just in case it was serious. When Noah cracked the door open to Zim's bedroom he was met with a pair of violent red eyes. "Hey," he said quietly, ready to dodge anything that was thrown his way.

"What." Zim stated, glaring harshly at the other.

"I just... you know, wanted to see if you were-"

"Okay?" the other finished, spitting the word out like venom. When Noah didn't move or speak he continued. "No, I'm not okay. You can leave now."

Noah never had to be told twice, and he was happy to take his spot on the plush burgundy couch with his library book. For the next couple of minutes it was quiet, then Noah could hear Zim talking to himself (or someone else, he couldn't tell), then yelling, then sobbing, then yelling again. At first he just let it go on for a few hours, figuring that his father would get tired of it sooner or later. Eventually, when it didn't stop, things could be heard breaking against the steel walls. "Oh great..." he muttered, counting off the things in his head he heard break in the other room; _There goes the lamp... his glass computer pad... the table... the little rolly chair... our family picture... the other lamp..._

After it was well into the night Noah decided that enough was enough, he was going to do something about it. He had never really talked to Niles much, but he knew where to find the medic should the need ever arise. All the hallways were dark and the only light source was from the floor lights that went along the length of the corridors, but he could faintly see the read glow of lights from the emergency medical bay where his mother was kept. He gently pushed open the glass doors and looked around, the room was just as dark, but red glares bounced off most everything since it was chrome, lighting the room nicely.

"What are you doing here?"

Noah whipped around to face Niles, his blood lurching through his veins briefly. "Um, I need to talk to you," he stammered, not knowing how to gently bring up the issue.

Niles pulled his goggles from his eyes and folded his hands behind his back. "Is this about your father or are his bad dreams just contagious?"

"Uh... I think something's wrong with him..." Noah stated flatly.

"Oh?" the medic asked, raising his head slightly. "How so?"

For the next ten minutes Noah explained Zim's mood swings and how they had gotten progressively more violent, how most of the anger was directed at him, and how he was a complete stranger to everyone that had been close to him.

Niles paused, thinking about his diagnosis carefully. "Well extreme depression certainly isn't out of the question, but he has been deprived of specific hormones because of his PAK removal... I've got an idea, don't move," he said, getting up and scurrying across to the other side of the room. When he came back he handed two small pills over to Noah. "Give him these, they'll either regulate his mood swings or make him violently ill."

At first Noah didn't want to take that risk, because should his father get sick guess who has to take care of him. But eventually he decided that it was worth a shot, he didn't have many other options. "Alright, how do I get him to take them?"

"Either sneak them in his food or lie and say they'll get rid of his headaches." Niles didn't particularly want to lie about something like that, but he wasn't very experienced with Irkens that actually had emotions and drama.

"Okay," Noah replied, stuffing the pills in his pocket and leaving the room. He decided that sneaking them into Zim's food would be his best bet, maybe make a few mini cupcakes, Zim usually scarfed those down in one bite, he wouldn't notice.

* * *

It was weird how Zim was oddly normal in the mornings, either it was because his sleepiness hadn't worn off or he was too busy to exert much anger, but he was generally in a better mood when he woke up. However, he certainly by no means was happy, just mildly irritated and extremely snappy. Noah didn't complain though, he just handed over the freshly baked cupcakes (something he had gotten quite good at making) and watched hopefully as the majority of the pan disappeared.

"Have a better day at work," Noah droned, not really expecting a whole lot in response.

Zim, who still had one cupcake lodged in his mouth, held up a hand and mumbled something along the lines of 'Yeah, sure,' or 'Shut up,' but a response was a response, which was better than nothing.

Noah sat around the house for a while before he got bored with counting the rivets in the metal walls, he made it to 4,394 before he decided that there were much more productive things he could do with his life. He thought about whether or not to spend the day in the library, but he did that a lot and he didn't want it to get too old too quick. After debating between leaving the ship entirely to go visit Purple (which he had done once before and needless to say it did _not_ go over well with his father) and watching the early morning training sessions of the Elites, he went with staying on the ship rather than getting confined to his room for two weeks.

He never really thought about it much but Noah was a terrible fighter. Sure he had the upper body strength, but he had no experience and no formal training, which left him quite embarrassed sometimes. When he watched the Elites train from the balcony over looking the large room he often wondered if he could join them, there was a special division for younger groups as a sort of pre-training but he never stuck around to watch them. Once an hour had passed and he saw the same impossible flips and attack combinations fourteen times over the outside scene became far more interesting. The entire wall to Noah's left was a glass window looking out into space, and Earth was still barely visible off in the distance, though it was hard to make out the land from the water.

It was then that he started to feel incredibly homesick. He was born there, that was his home, and that was where he belonged. But it wasn't like he could do anything about it, maybe when the meeting on Irk was over he could con his dad into living on Earth again, at least there he had friends.

Early evening soon approached and Noah had ended up back in the suite, leaning over the snare drum as his arms dangled in front of him. He was exhausted from playing and vaguely wondered if the pills he gave to Zim ever worked.

"Noah!"

He was about to find out.

By the sound of the yell it was fairly distressed and whiny with a slight edge of desperation. Noah bolted out of his practice room, flew up the small flight of stairs into his room and burst through the door, putting him in the hall to the kitchen where he could see Zim leaning over with one hand gripping the edge of the wall and the other wrapped around his middle. His skin was pale and the muscles in his arms were twitching spastically, he looked as though he was about to reject his lunch.

"_What_ did you give me to _eat_ this morning!" Zim hissed out, his supporting hand sliding onto the countertop as he doubled over.

Noah paled and started to fiddle with the hem of his shirt, shifting his eyes between the bedroom door to his right and the living room behind Zim. "Um, just cupcakes," he said quietly, giving the other a nervous revealing smile.

Zim didn't buy it, and as his right foot lurched forward so that he didn't topple over he sent a vicious glare to his son, growling irritably. "Then why am I _sick_?" he asked venomously, weakly dropping to one knee as his arms and legs shook harder.

Though he didn't usually crack so easily under pressure, Noah opened his mouth and blurted out what happened. "Niles gave me pills and I put them in your cupcakes this morning to help with your mood swings because you've been getting really violent lately and yesterday you almost hit me so I thought that they might help but he said that if they didn't you'd get sick instead so I guess that's what happened and I'm really sorry because all I wanted to do was help you feel better _please don't hate me_."

Without so much as a verbal response, Zim pulled himself back up and slowly drug his way to the door.

"Hey, where are you going!" Noah called out, hastily following after his father.

The two made their way to the medical bay in silence, ignoring the odd and worried looks from others as they trudged down the hallway. When they reached the door Zim shoved it open and scoped out the room for Niles. Once the Tallest had located his target he shakily made his way over, hissing over the medic's shoulder once he was within reach.

Niles spun around and squinted through his goggles, removed them for a quick wipe down, replaced them over his eyes, and nearly gagged at the sight before him. "My Irk, you look _dreadful_. Something you ate?"

Zim hissed again. "You would know, wouldn't you?"

At first Niles had entirely forgot what had happened the night before, but when he saw Noah standing sheepishly by the door he caught on. "_Oh_." he grinned, trying desperately not to snicker. "Come here," he beckoned the other to a small table against the wall and told him to sit. Then he bustled off around the corner, giggling to himself about the look on Zim's face or something along those lines.

Noah slowly approached the table and stared awkwardly down at his hands. He figured that Zim had a right to be cross with him, he just hoped it wouldn't last longer than the typical day and a half, usually after that Zim either dismissed or completely forgot why he was angry in the first place. But before Noah could give a formal apology Niles was back with a large syringe.

"Now," he started, pulling his gloves on. "You're body has rejected the hormone balancer _I_ gave you, and it made you sick instead. So I'm going to give you this to kill off what's left of the medicine, it shouldn't take more than a minute." Without hesitating, or warning, he jabbed the needle into Zim's arms and injected him with the slightly glowing liquid.

At first Zim tensed slightly, clutching at his robes. But after a moment the light muscular spasms faded away and the color slowly returned to his sunken features.

"You feel better?" Niles asked, smiling slightly as he removed his gloves.

Zim nodded slightly and took in a shaky breath, sliding off the bed and onto his feet. Once he got his footing and felt confident that he wouldn't topple over, he let out his breath and stood up straight.

Noah looked up at the other and fiddled with the hem of his shirt. "Are you mad at me?"

At first Zim wasn't really sure if he should say anything back, but he knew that if he gave no response his son would only take it as anger and 'yes, I'm horribly angry with you', so he just gently shook his head and kept his eyes off the other.

Usually Noah knew this to mean that his father really _was_ angry, but he was saying otherwise just to be 'nice'. However, he did seem genuinely truthful that time so Noah allowed himself to believe that he wasn't currently on his father's bad side and smiled.

And for a second, he could have sworn the other smiled back.

* * *

Oh Gog guys, I'm so sorry for the late update. Aside from winter break where I had no internet access and all the showcases at school and catching up in college classes I simply had no inspiration. At all.

But I just got a ton of cool ideas to insert into the plot, plus I want to get to the last book because I think it's the best, so hopefully you guys wont have to wait for so long this time!

Again, sorry for the late update, but reviews are encouraging! So please just send me a quick yay or nay, that would be awesome. :D


	42. Encounters

She walked swiftly down the corridoor, dodging small puddles of water as the ventalation system continued to leak, dripping water onto the floor with a 'plip' 'plop'. She could vaguely see the light at the end of the tunnel, a phrase that had often amused her, due to the fact that nothing about this place was happy. Not even for her, and she worked for him.

"Eep!" she squealed, picking up her left foot as a small plump, furry creature scurried past her. It stopped a few yards down before turning to look at her, glaring with its beady red eyes. "Scat!" she hissed, flinging her hands in a shooing motion until the creature rounded the next corner and was out of sight.

If there was one thing she hated more than anything else, even her job, it was those disgusting little vermin that ran around the tunnels. She honestly couldn't understand how they could survive, it was always so cold this far under ground.

As she neared the doorway the small bit of orange light that was able to slither through the crack of the door creeped into her skin and she shivered. It was warm and deathly inviting.

"Come in, girl."

She straightened immediately as the cold shivers clawed down her back and arms. Reaching out a hand she pushed the door open, squinting slightly to let her eyes adjust. When she fully opened them again she sucked in her breath and did her best not to squeal again.

The tall slender Irken sitting in the corner of the room peered up at her, letting the hood of his cloak slideoff his head. He turned to look at her, revealing a nasty scar down the right side of his face. His right antenna was also burned and charred, leaving it limp and useless. "Sit." he commanded, motioning her to the seat across from him.

The girl sat down and folded her hands in her lap, her eyes flicked up to meet the other's briefly before turning away her gaze. "I thought... you were-"

"Dead?" he finished, narrowing his eyes slightly. "No, but if everyone likes to think that then why don't we keep it that way for a while. So tell me, how is the new Tallest doing?"

With a sharp swallow she looked up and squivered. "Um, not... not too great..." she stuttered, trying not to babble out random words due to her nervous state.

"I didn't think so. Is she dead?" he asked, folding his fingers together other the top of the table.

"N-no. A coma... she's in a coma." The air seemed to thicken horribly and she concentrated very hard on just breathing after the wind caught in her throat.

The male sitting across from her sighed and let his hands slide apart. "Oh well, I guess I'm not that surprised. Good thing I called you here then. I'm assuming you'd like to know why I've brought you here."

"Yes, sir." she squeaked out.

"Good. But first, you must sign an oath to me, otherwise I can't trust you." He stood, his black blood stained cloak fell to floor and dragged across the ruddy carpet fluidly, as if he weren't walking. He paused by a small table a few feet from his company, pulling a small leather book from the dusty surface along with a knife. He then returned to his seat and set the book down in front of the girl and held out his hand for hers.

The female tensed slightly, her shoulders raising up with her fear. "Um..." she choked, shakily raising her right hand and placing it in his. She cringed as he sliced open her palm, carving an Irken letter 'S' into her flesh.

"All you have to do is write your name." He opened the book to the first page and pointed to the open space at the very top.

With a shaky hand she angled her pointer finger downward and carefully signed her name on the yellowed pages, carefully noting that at least half the book was already filled with names.

_Zeira_

As soon as she was done he snatched the book away, once again getting up to return the book to its previous resting place. After it was put back he retieved a small eye dropper from the table drawer. "If you're going to work for me we'll need a more efficient way of communicating." He moved back over to the table and reached out for her hand again.

Zeira eyed the black liquid suspiciously, but relunctantly held out her hand. She winced as the black liquid seeped into the cracks of her open wound, seeming to be attracted to her blood. After her wounds sealed over the other wrapped her hand in thin white gauze.

He gaze then lifted up to hers and he grew very serious. "Tell no one who you are."

The girl looked up and tilted her head to the side. "Who am I, sir?"

The male pulled the corners of his mouth into a wicked smile and tucked his head back under the hood of his cloack. "You are my Silencer, and you are going to be the one to kill the Tallest."

* * *

Auzie threw herself upwright and screeched, her hands stinging and her mind spinning. Beads of sweat dripped down the small curve of her flat nose as she strained her eyes open to suck in the faint light of the moon. As she sharply inhaled she was hoisted backwards against the firm body of her brother.

He quietly hushed her and rocked her back and forth, gently rubbing the girls shoulders as her body slowly quit shaking. "You're fine."

"Something's wrong," she blurted out, her voice wavering as she spoke. "I can feel it. My hands burn and my head hurts. It's bad, and it's coming."

Bryan wrapped his fingers around her hands and rubbed his thumbs in circles on her palms. "What is?" he whispered.

Auzie gently shook her head. "We aren't safe anymore."

"It was just a bad dream, go back to sleep, okay?" He laid her back down and tucked her in bed, then quietly disappeared out of the room.

A moment later a large white dog-type animal padded quietly into the room and jumped onto the foot of the girl's bed, lifting it's nose to the window to peer at the small, dark moon.

* * *

"Why won't you come with me? You're half the reason I have to go to this meeting!"

"I'm sorry, but you're the one who decided to organize the meeting."

"You're the one who suggested it!"

"But I'm not Tallest anymore, now am I?"

"No but you sure as hell are irritating!"

Zim and Purple had been going at it for at least an hour, Zim was about flip his lid and Purple was still calm, cool, and collected. Needless to say that only pissed the other off even more.

Noah leaned back in his chair in the back of the bridge, watching the two bicker at each other along with the rest of the comm crew. He wasn't entirely sure if he'd have to accompany his father to said meeting, the last thing he wanted was to be exposed to hundreds of other species he knew nothing about. He shuddered and turned away from the two, picking out a space on the flushed maroon walls to stare at.

As Purple nearly turned to leave the whole ship rocked violently to the side, the sound of crunching metal ringing through the emtpy space of the hull. Most of the ComTechs fell out of their seats and crashed into each other while Zim clung to Purple as the two steadied each other.

"What the hell was that!" the Tallest called, whipping his head around to look through the large glass window at the front of the room. Before he could spot the attacker another bombardment launched the ship sideways.

One of the ComTechs that had managed to stay in her seat pulled up an incoming signal. "Sir, they're trying to contact us!"

Zim righted himself and watched Purple smile and leave, muttering something about doing official business. The Tallest shook his head and looked up at the screen, motioning for the female to patch them through.

On screen was certainly a familiar face, although the signal was scratchy, as one of the shots to the Massive partly sabatoged Transmissions Signal Bay. But Zim didn't need a clear picture to figure out who it was. "Alright, Irken scum! This time if you don't accept our demands we'll-!... Hey... who are you?"

The one in question growled under his breath, the _last_ thing he wanted was to deal with this annoying excuse for a life form, no matter how much older or more mature he seemed. "Mind explaining to me why you openly attacked my ship?"

"You're ship? You aren't in charge! I demand to speak to the Almighty Tallest of the Irken Empire!" The Vortian gritted his teeth and balled his hands into fists.

"I am Tallest, you idiot." Zim stated, crossing his arms over his chest, slightly popping one hip to the side to show his irritation. "You wouldn't happen to be Lard Nar, would you?"

The other blinked slowly before puffing out his chest and smiling toothily. "Of course I am! The leader of the Resisty at your serv-... wait a minute," He turned to look at Zim fully. "Did you just say _you're_ Tallest?"

"Yes."

"But... but you look like..."

"Zim."

There was a long silence before Lard Nar's face grew red with anger and he began screaming meaningless insults at the other. Zim just raised an eye at him and let him about his rampage, might as well let the squirt get it out of his system before he attempted to talk to him. When the other was finally done Zim righted his posture and folded his hands behind his back.

"Don't you look at me all officially! You better hope that I-" He abruptly stopped at the small hand gesture the Tallest gave him to politely say 'shut up'.

"What is your business?" Zim asked, giving the other a look that demanded an answer and resepct.

Lard Nar simply huffed and tried his very best not to roll his eyes. "We've come to demand our freedom and destroy your ship."

Zim didn't look very intimidated or impressed, but he at least decided to humor the other for the moment. "Well I can guarantee that you won't blow up my ship, but what is this demand of freedom?"

At first the Vortian looked as if he was going to start another temper tantrum, but decided better of it and let out a long breath. "We've come to demand that the Irken Empire free the Vortians and remove themselves from our home planet."

"Hmm," hummed the Tallest to himself, looking away from the other for a moment. "Why don't you come aboard and we'll discuss this like civilized people, yes?"

Lard Nar almost immediately denied the offer, wanting to state that it was trick to get him killed. But something caught his eye. "Who is that?" he asked, pointing to the boy behind Zim.

Said Irken turned his head slightly, immediately figuring out who the Vortian was addressing. When he turned to answer he was shot with another question.

"And how did you become Tallest? What happened to the other two buffoons?"

Zim held up a hand again, slowly blinking his eyes. "If you come aboard I'll explain everything."

Lard Nar was skeptical for a moment, assissing the situation that the other was proposing. But eventually he glared at the other and reluctantly accepted the offer. "But if you try anything I swear I'll-"

"No worries," the other replied, lowering his hand. "My guards will escort you in."

"Humph, that's what I'm worried about."

Zim's face screwed up a little. "Well I suppose if you feel so inclined you may be escorted by one of your own."

Lard Nar nodded to himself, then abruptly cut the transmission. Zim looked around a bit awkwardly for a moment, then turned on his heels to make his way to the docking station. Noah followed close behind and peered behind his shoulder, he didn't like being left behind with the comm crew, they were especially awkward to be left alone with.

"So who was that guy?" Noah asked, peering upwards at his father. The other didn't respond, so Noah decided not to push the matter, hopefully his father would let him tag along long enough for him to find out.

As they wound around the corners and walked briskfully up and down the hall, a few more light shots were taken to the ship, which irritated Zim greatly. As he approached the docking station and watched the Vortian land his ship, his face scrunched up even more.

Sure, Lard Nar had always been rather small and scrawny, the transmission still made him look rather puny. However, that was not the case at all. The little Vortian had to be at least five and a half feet tall, give or take a few inches, but that wasn't exactly what caught Zim's attention. The two had mutually known of each other for years, and plenty of news broadcasts and cirminal alerts had been enough to paint vivid pictures of each other in the other's mind. Lard Nar had sufficiantly changed.

The Vortian in question quickly stepped out of his small, personal ship, angrily motioning for his guard to follow. "ZIM!" he shouted, watching at the Tallest marched through the large metal doors onto the platform. "What is going on!"

Zim halted a few feet from the other, still having to slightly look down. "If you'll follow me we'll find a quiet place to talk." He then turned on his heel, smiling internally as Lard Nar's guard was escorted by two, much larger Irkens. As the small group of six filed back into the hallway Zim looked down at his son. "Noah, go back to the suite and wait for me there, I'll stop by as soon as I'm done," he said quietly, putting a hand on Noah's back to nudge him along. Noah walked slowly at first, still mezmarized by the Vortian, before turning fully to walk away.

Lard Nar looked around the large ship, noting the mellow atmosphere of the busy Irkens. He'd never spent a whole lot of time around the species, but he knew what their manerisms were like. He was about to open his mouth to ask another question, but figured it would have been denied like the rest of them had been.

For the few minutes they were trekking around the ship, quite a few workers that had passed threw the Resisty leader a nasty look, but most of them quickly turned away and looked, if the Vortian didn't know any better, slightly guilty. But as they delved further into the Massive, fewer Irkens were seen, unless they were much higher up in their ranking of their profession.

The Tallest stopped abruptly by two double doors, waiting for the guard on his left to push the doors open and let everyone inside. Zim quietly commanded the three guards to wait outside, once again smirking at the quivering Vortian guard. Once Lard Nar stumbled inside, Zim shut the doors behind him.

The room only had two sections to it, one large circular lounge and an adjoining transmissions deck in the back. The lounge section set downwards into the floor with couches and chairs lining the rim of the cirlce. Zim stepped down into the middle and took a seat in front of the small glass table, holding his hand out towards the opposide seat.

The Vortian leader skeptically took a seat and pressed his lips together, feeling slightly uncomfortable in such an open room.

"Well?" Zim asked, half expecting a bombardment of questions. "What first?"

Lard Nar blinked before bringing forth a good starting question. "How?"

Zim smiled, folding his hands into his lap. "Well, Red betrayed us all and Purple resigned his position."

The other wasn't fully satisfied with the answer, knowing there was much more to it, and he would have asked for the full story if he didn't have more important business to attend to. "What do you mean, betrayed?"

"Even after our Eldest had made the decision to side with us, Red continued to try and kill me," Zim said plainly, keeping a rather blank expression on his face. "Which probably doesn't sound very interesting to you, this sort of thing happens quite often, yes?"

"I suppose... but why are you so special?" he asked, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

This was a question Zim was not quite as ready to answer, but begrudginly he spilled it out. "It wasn't just me, it was my family." Zim then instinctively lowered his eyes and braced himself for whatever odd reaction the Vortian might come off with. But instead it was quiet.

Lard Nar was staring at him hands, as if trying to seem deeply in thought. He sat up straighter and slowly raised his head to the other, feeling slightly more misplaced. "You too?" he asked, slightly fidgeting with his hands.

Zim looked quizzically at the other, not quite understanding what he meant. "What do you mean?"

This time the Vortian took a deep breath and spoke a little more freely. "You're family... you have one."

The Tallest looked slightly shocked, but only let it briefly show on his face. "Yes, I do."

"Was he yours? The boy following you around?" After recieving an affirming nod he continued. "And what about...?" Lard Nar could see that Zim knew what he was asking before he even got to finish. His eyes fell to the floor and the Vortian could almost see his body curl into itself. "Is she dead?"

Zim slowly shook his head and cast his gaze up at the other. "Not yet."

The air in the room felt as though it was sort of fluxuating, first being too thick then it was too thin. As the silence droned on the two sat across from each other, both feeling the slight sense of awkward.

"So what now?"

Zim looked up, almost forgetting where he was. "Huh?"

"Obviously you don't have much of an interest in doing away with me, so what do you plan to do?" Lard Nar seemed suddenly exhausted, as if doing a heavily straining task.

With only a slight pause Zim answered, "Go home," his facial expression never changing. "I've scheduled a meeting on Irk so that I can discuss this issue with the rest of the races we have so wrongfully treated. You're welcome to come."

Lard Nar blinked, taken aback by the invitation. Normally he would have taken this as a threat or trap, even if the circumstances have been changing. However, because he was so desperate to protect the people he's worked with for so many years and his own family, he couldn't deny the opportunity. "What will happen to all of us?"

"That depends," Zim started, looking slightly bored. "Who are you referring to?"

The Vortian pressed his lips together again, thinking about what the outcome of thos whole situation could be. "The Resisty."

Zim answered without hesitation, "They will be given full protection under the Irken Armada, and I'll try to get you a spot on the Universal Protection Committee, no guarantees though."

Lard Nar nodded in approval, sitting up straight in his seat. "How about Vort?"

At this Zim held in a breath, seeming to be almost afraid of the question. "I can't give you a straight answer right now, that'll have to wait until after the meeting. But I'll do everything in my power to restore it as best I can." Zim then stood up and made his way to the small transmission deck in the back of the room, opening a line to Riida.

"Oh, hello my Tallest, what can I do for?" she said pleasantly, which was actually slightly unusual for her.

Zim smiled at her quickly, showing his appreciation, and asked for the head of communications. For a moment she disappeared off screen so Zim turned to Lard Nar and beckoned him forward, pulling the smaller Vortian by his side. When Riida's head popped back into view she straightened out her small pile of her documents and set them aside, letting out a loud huff. "He's patching through," she said bordely, switching the feed over to a different channel. After a few seconds the black screen lit up with another face.

"Senior Communications Officer, Senior, at your service, Sir!" the arken said enthusiastically, saluting to his Tallest. "What can I do for you?"

He couldn't quite place where, but Zim knew he'd seen this Irken before, you couldn't possibly mistake his odd antennae. "I need you to do me a favor," he started, moving his hand to rest of top of the Vortian's head. "Could you contact the officer in charge on planet Vort and have him contact me?"

With a bright confident smile, Senior offered the other a parting salute and assured he'd get right on it. After that the screen went dark, and Lard Nar let out a breath, slightly slouching forward.

Zim led him to the door and put his hand on the surface, letting the door slide gently to the side. "I'll escort you back to your ship, follow me."

Lard Nar gazed up in confusion, he'd never seen Zim change his attitude so quickly, and certainly not to an authoritative tone. So he followed close behind and kept his mouth shut, his skin crawling at the silence until he reached his ship.

"As soon as I get word back I'll get in touch," Zim said plainly, folding his arms behind his back as the other nodded and started his ship. The Tallest then turned on his heel and drifted back out of the docking station, sending his guards off for the day. He then turned down the opposite corridoor, rubbling feverishly at his temples while he tried to steady his stride. He needed to lay down.

The lights on the ship began to dim, some halls completely dark altogether. Thin rows of lights along the floor offered the only light, casting the deep marroon walls in a rustic orange haze. Zim preferred the dark over the light, and the warm orange was much less harsh on his eyes.

He put his hand gently on the door to his suite, stepping inside as it slid into the wall with a gentle hiss. The lights were off, save for small light in the kitchen, which didn't offer much. It was also very quiet.

Usually there would be something to indicate that Noah lived there as well, which was mostly just him leaving the monitor on static. But this time it was just quiet, and Zim wasn't sure if he liked it. He moved throught the lounge, the living space, the kitchen, and down a short hallway to Noah's room.

The door was slightly ajar and faint stream of blue light flowed from the crease. Zim pushed slightly to open the door all the way, smiling to himself at what he saw.

Noah was lying on his back in his bed, a book clutched in his right hand as that whole arm dangled over the side of the bed, a small blue orb sitting on his desk, which was eminating the comforting blue light.

Zim moved silently over the soft floor, stopping by Noah's bad. He reached out a careful hand towards the thick blanket that had gathered around Noah's ankles and gently pulled over the boy. He also made sure to remove the book, mark the page, and set it gently on the desk by the light, which he moved his hand over to shut off.

Once he crossed the room and gently shut the door behind him, he glided silently to his own room and threw off his robes in favor of a light shirt and pants. After he gathered his discarded uniform into a pile, crawled into bed, and shut off the lights, his mind began to wander.

Where had that come from? Hadn't Noah practically poisoned him earlier? What about all the nasty remarks the other had said to him? Why did he suddenly not care? Zim wasn't really sure what to make of it, and the more he thought about it, the more it irritated him. _You're supposed to let it go, it's called forgiveness._

Zim shot up in his bed, his eyes darting frantically around the room. Was he hearing voices now? Why did it sound like...? _It's called being a father._

With a huff he fall back against his pillows, recognizing what was going on. For a while it hadn't been uncommon for him to hear her voice in his head, but he hadn't heard it in so long, he figured it had just gone away.

And what about being a father? He was horrible at it! Granted he was sort of thrusted into the situation with virtually no training or breifing on the subject, so he'd been learning on the job. But what was this about forgiveness?

He mentally slapped himself, right before sleep invaded his mind like the merciful shadow it was. Except the nightmares soon followed, and he once again found himself in the darker relms of the more dangerous corners of his imagination.

* * *

Author: Oh look, I'm coming up with useless filler for the rest of this book. *is very temped to just start on third* Almost there guys, another couple of chapters or so and this one will be done~

Zim: Ohgawdthere'smore.

Author: SOMUCHMORE.


	43. A Knife in the Dark

_I feel cold, and I know I'm asleep. But it feels like I can't wake up... almost as if I'm in some sort of bad dream, though nothing is happening, it's just dark._

_I can't tell how long I've been like this, sometimes it feels like a few seconds, other times it feels like years. And because I don't ever dream I have no sense of time. I don't even know what's going on or why I'm here._

_I don't remember what was happening before I got here, or how I even ended up here. Sometimes I can't remember much about who I am, and that scares me. A little while ago I could barely remember my own..._

* * *

_What was that just then? My stomach... I feel sick..._

_Wake up..._

* * *

_I was feeling better! The pain was going away, why is it coming back!_

_Make it stop... Please..._

Zim sat up in his bed, little beads of sweat trickling down his temples and the back of his neck. His antenna were shaking as cold shivers traveled from the base of skull, down his shoulders, into his back, and along his arms into his hands. The darkness of the room made his eyes sore and his head throb, which didn't help the churning feeling in his gut.

He threw the covers off himself, pulled a clean undershirt over his head, and slipped out of the suite. The cold metal flooring of the Massive sent shivers up his legs, and he instantly regretted not putting his boots on. However, he didn't realise how cold it was until he was already standing in front of the Medical Bay down the hall.

No one was inside, except for the two patients, and the only light available was from the dim rails following along the corners of the room on the floor, casting the whole area in a deep red glow.

He ventured in further, stealthily gliding across the floor and around the tables and beds. The rainbow of liquids lining the shelves were all transformed into unwelcoming shades of reds and deep purples, and where the light hit just right their translucent reflections were cast along the metal panels. Zim shuddered again, goosebumps tickling the skin of his arms.

Quietly, he crept up to her side and sat gently on the stool beside her bed, lowering his head to watch the profile of her body move as she breathed. Her lips parted slightly, and for a while she seemed to be breathing steadily, her body still and peaceful. As she inhaled her next breath hitched.

"What..." the other whispered, familiar with her breath hitching when she was frightened. He knew she couldn't hear a word he said, but it made him feel more comfortable.

She fiercely let out that breath and took in another, as if the previous wasn't good enough. And then she let out the next one, and the next, her breath hitching sooner every time. As her slight fit subsided the air passed through her lips easily again, for a moment.

After Zim was convinced it was normal and there was nothing to worry about Aneera's head rolled to the side and she groaned. He instinctively raised a hand and brushed the knuckles of his fingers along her cheek. He then leaned in and rested his head on the pillow beside her, gently rubbing her skin with his thumb. As his gaze traveled down the curves of her hips the light had been cast just right for him to see a light bruise forming on her skin that hadn't been there when he walked in.

At first he thought maybe it was just the way her body was healing, except it was on the opposite side than the once gaping hole. Odd, that a bruise just somehow formed, like she'd been poked too hard, but from the inside.

_What is this pain? It hurts so bad! I feel like I'm being ripped apart from the inside and I can't scream! Somebody... please notice me..._

Her head rolled to the other side and she curled into herself, the joints in her back cracking slightly as she moved. Once she had settled her skin began to crawl with shivers, her teeth chattered, and little whimpers escaped into the silent air.

Zim would have logically been able to pass the moving and noises as just bad dreams, but the bruise was still very odd to him.

"What are you doing in here?"

The Tallest whipped his head around, startled by the sudden intrusion of the doctor. After he heaved a sigh he came off with "I could ask you the same thing," but then realized Niles actually belonged there. He didn't.

"Well I do work here, and I check up on her routinely throughout the night. So my question still stands." Niles moved forward and pulled out another stool for him to stand on.

Zim sat up and hunched over, letting his arms drape over his knees. "Bad dreams... again."

Niles nodded his head once, gently rolling Aneera's over so she was on her back again. "Oh..." His fingers brushed along her bruised skin, the ridges of his brow scrunching together in confusion. "Did you see this?"

The Tallest simply nodded, then added, "It wasn't there when I walked in, and I've only been here for about fifteen minutes."

"Huh... I wonder where it came from," he said to himself, reaching a hand into the small shelf under the bed. He pulled out a small tablet and did a basic scan for tissue damage and the sort. "Well it's just a bruise... but how'd it get there..." On an impulse he checked her bone structure, hoping nothing got fractured, though, there seemed to be something amiss.

"Something wrong?" Zim asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

Niles bit his lip and he leaned in closer, switching between looking at her bones to her muscles. "Well... she seems to have an extra clump of tissue right here," he gestured to the middle of her abdomen. "I'm not exactly sure what that is."

"Pardon?" Zim leaned in closer and scowled at the doctor, trying not to wrongly process what he said.

For a moment he was silent, then turned swiftly to his Tallest. "Go back to your room, get some sleep, and I'll contact you as soon as I figure out what it is."

Zim placed a hand on the bed as he sad up, making it clear that was did not want to leave. "What if there's a problem, what if she's-"

Niles held up a hand and looked up. "There wouldn't be anything you could do either way, nothing I couldn't do better. I promise I won't leave until I figure it out. It's probably just her body sorting through damaged tissue and replacing cells. Now go sleep." His word was final and with that he shooed Zim out of the medical bay.

But of course the Tallest couldn't sleep. Not without being attacked by his own mind.

* * *

Dib was lying face up on his bed, his hand resting behind his head as he gazed at his ceiling. It often amused him that when he was smaller, instead of just sticking them wherever, the little glow-in-the-dark stars were arranged in actual constellations. He had been such a nerd. And still was.

The wind from the open window whistled into his room and the cold air licked at his bare skin. He moved to sit up and close the window, as his bed sat right underneath it. But there was someone sitting on his windowsill.

She was tall, slender, and shrouded in black, though he could tell she was very different. The harsh red eyes and long antennae were dead give aways that she was Irken, but Dib got a sickly feeling in his stomach that she wasn't friendly.

"C-can I help you?" he squeaked out, moving a hand to reach under his pillow, praying his water gun was still there.

"Tell me where he is," she hissed, leaning in a few inches to show her hostility.

Dib swallowed hard, he knew he shouldn't have moved it. "Who?"

She growled quietly as she crawled onto his bed, whipping out a small knife with all the grace of a feline. "The Tallest. Where is he."

This time Dib forced himself not to squeak when he spoke. "Um, I actually don't know where he is, do you, uh, know him?"

She held the knife up to his throat, her hisses deepening. "If you can't tell me where he is I'll kill you."

"All I know is that he's on the Massive but I don't know where it is right now please don't kill me." He shrunk back slightly, quivering as she drew the knife along his throat mockingly.

"Get out of my house."

The Irken whipped her head around, eyeing a smaller female in the doorway. She threw her knife at the girl and screeched, wrapping her other clawed hand around Dib's throat.

Gaz held up a hand and expertly snatched the blade from the air, raised a large gun in her other hand, and let loose a violent stream of water. "I said GET OUT."

The alien cried out in pain and leaped out of the window, disappearing into the trees a little ways down the street.

"Dib, how many times have I told you NOT to invite weird alien strippers into our house?" Gaz threw the knife out the window after the intruder and rested her hand on the gun.

Dib glared across the room before slamming his window shut. "I didn't invite her, she broke in."

Gaz rolled her eyes and shook her head. "It's not exactly breaking in if you leave your window open, dumbass. What did she want?"

"She wanted to know where Zim was, but I couldn't tell her." And he really couldn't, because everything he told her was true. In fact, he hadn't talk to Zim for at least a month.

Without saying another word the younger girl turned on her heel and left the room, slamming the door shut behind her when she left. After that the house settled and was quiet again, until Dib threw himself out of bed, yanked on his trench coat, snagged his hover board from deep inside his closet, and left his house. If she knew to find him at his house then he might as well assume she knew about their island base as well.

* * *

The air was almost completely still over the ocean water as it rushed through the boy's black hair. She knew. He could see the island off in the distance, and every light in the house was on, but there was no telling if she had found her way into the lower base. On a whim, he decided that the only way to find out would be to use the bottom floor entrance, so Dib was quite pleased with himself when he realized he remembered to bring his goggles.

The water was cold though, and as he plunged in he couldn't help but think why he would ever do what he just did. But he forgot it quickly, trying to concentrate on holding his breath long enough to get through the door. Just before he thought his ears were going to burst his hand found the hatch to the door and yanked it open, thrusting himself inside.

The water drained quickly, leaving trails of salt water trickling slowly down the walls of the small space. Dib looked up and squinted at the bright red light above him, moving his hand to the handle of the door. As soon as the light dimmed to green he opened the hatch and slid out of the tank.

The walls of the underwater portion of the base reminded Dib much of Zim's lab at home, he just hoped he wouldn't get too lost wandering around. He leaned his board against the wall by the door and continued slowly down the hall, doing his best to keep his squelching shoes quiet against the metal floor. He could hear a faint pounding some floors above him, which only helped confirmed his fears. As he kept his eyes and ears on the floor above he quickly found the nearest lift and took it up.

Floor after floor passed him by and the pounding got significantly louder. As the lift came to a halt on the weapons floor he could see her right in front of him in plain sight. The weapons section wasn't a very large room, and the only space between the two of them was the twenty-foot hallway. Dib ducked down and crouched on the floor, watching the female with interest.

She was tall, definitely Irken according to her features now that he could see her in the light , but her clothes were all wrong. She wore no robes, no uniform boots or gloves, no Irken insignia, nothing that would otherwise label her as her species. Instead she wore a long black tattered cloak with a hood, leather pants, a long-sleeved tunic styled shirt, knee-high leather boots, and bandages around her hands. She obviously didn't work for Zim.

She continued pounding at the door to the weapons room, slowly making small cracks in the glass with her elbow. As soon as the glass shattered and she stepped in Dib slid out of the lift and snuck down the hall.

There was an impressive assortment of guns, lasers, explosives, and hacking devices all at her disposal, and she overlooked every one of them. Towards the back, sitting on a pedestal under a dome of glass, was a small syringe filled partly with a clear liquid. Dib knew what that was.

He remembered Zim working on it himself, just in case anything were to happen to him. It was like the blue pills government officials took for suicide if they got caught. Dib had finally convinced the Tallest that he didn't need it, that nothing like that would ever happen to him, so he left it behind.

The girl lifted the glass and wrapped her greedy claws around the tube, replaced the dome, and slid the syringe into a small canister. As she turned around Dib snatched the nearest gun he could get his hands on and blocked the doorway.

She eyed him over, unimpressed at his attempt at sneaking up on her. "I could hear you from six floors down, you idiot. Now move before I kill you." Her voice was smooth and her words rolled off her tongue perfectly.

Dib shuttered at her words and shook a few stray droplets out of his hair. "I've killed enough of your kind already, you don't scare me."

For a moment her face remained blank, then a large, sly grin spread across her features. She stepped closer to the boy and laid a hand on his shoulder, dragging it along his chest as she walked around him. "True, maybe I don't scare you... But that doesn't mean I won't get away," she whispered, pushing one firm finger into the back of his neck. "Sleep tight."

Dib fell to the floor in sudden blackness, his limp body sprawling on the floor in a puddle of salt water. The girl stepped over him and continued back to the lift, taking it to the ground floor.

* * *

"How do I look?" Zim poised himself in front of the mirror, twisting around to make sure his robes were straight. He really didn't like wearing formal robes or attending big meetings, and if it hadn't been something he had scheduled himself than he'd be coming up with multiple plans on sneaking out.

Noah rolled his eyes and flopped backwards onto his father's bed, earning a light scold for wrinkling his own formal apparel. "You look fine, can we go ahead and get this over with?"

Zim lifted Noah off the bed and set him on the floor, pulling down the hem if his top to straighten out the wrinkles. "You know, I don't like this anymore than you do. But at least try to smile or something."

A loud knock on the wall by the door made them both turn around. The tall figure of Purple glided into the room and Noah quickly used the distraction to exit. Though the sneaky gesture didn't go unnoticed by the Elder, who reached down a hand and affectionately shoved the boy out of the room.

"Well don't you look excited," the Elder commented, fixing the back of Zim's collar.

"I'm bursting with joy, can't you tell?" The Tallest swatted away Purple's hands and looked himself over one last time. Once satisfied he took his gloves from the table by the bed and pulled them on, exiting the room as he flexed his fingers. "Noah! Come on, we gotta go." As he wound his way through the kitchen and the living room he snatched his pager from the counter.

Purple quirked a brow behind his friend's back. "You expecting someone?"

Zim put a hand on Noah's shoulder and guided him out of the suite. "Niles." Once everyone was out he held a hand up to the keypad to lock the door and lead the way.

Noah looked up with interest. "You mean Mom's doctor? Why, what's happened?"

Zim smiled, and shook his head. "Nothing's wrong, she's fine. Why don't you go on ahead, we'll catch up." He then gave the child a small shove to get him going.

As he rounded the corner up ahead and disappeared Purple turned his head. "She's not really fine, is she?"

The Tallest slightly hung his head as he walked. "Well, I don't really know. Her stomach is covered in bruises, but Niles says they're coming from the inside, not out. He said he'd tell me as soon as he figured out what was up."

Purple nodded his head and let a few seconds of silence slide by. "What do you think it is?"

Zim shook his head. "I'd honestly rather not think about it anymore than I already have. Plus I don't know enough about the medical field to even have an idea. All I can think of is oh god I hope it doesn't get worse."

The Elder turned to look at the other and sighed. "You know, I really hate to sound like the bad guy here, but-"

"I know, I know. I can't- we can't keep her alive forever...It's just hard to think that even after all the things I did... there's a chance that none of it was enough..." Zim clutched at the pager inside his pocket, not sure if he would be happy or not if and when Niles did contact him.

The rest of the trip was walked in silence as the two men kept to themselves and dropped the subject. Zim was desperately trying to get his thoughts in order for the meeting since there were quite a few things to go over, and all the time he could've spent planning was spent laying around the medical bay. So naturally he wasn't prepared.

* * *

"This is dumb." Bryan stood in front of a tall mirror located on the far wall of his parents' bedroom, blowing strands of hair from his face.

His mother, waist deep in her significant other's half of the cluttered closet, tossed a few overcoats onto the bed behind her. "It is not, Bryan, this is for your brother."

The boy huffed and slouched his shoulders, earning him a firm slap on the arm from his mother. "Yeah I know, and it's cool and all... but what's the point in dressing up?"

At this his mother unearthed herself from the pile of clothes and stuck her head out of the closet to glare at her son. "What's the point? Do you hear yourself? This is your brother, trying to make amends and clear the bad name our species has. Don't you think that's a cause to dress up a little?"

"Oh come off it, he's a guy, he automatically hates dressing nicely." Zephyre stepped into the room and sat on the bed next to his very quiet daughter.

"Thank you! Someone understands!" Bryan threw his hands into the air, yanking the buttons of his overcoat away from his mother's prying hands.

Said female sighed and took advantage of the few seconds the boy had his arms up for, pulling the overcoat off his body and trying on another one. "I think this one looks much better. What do you think?"

Bryan lowered his arms and straightened out the coat. "I told you this one would look best." If it hadn't been for the collar style or the basic color theme, he would have debated not going at all.

"Oh hush and go fix your hair. You've got ten minutes." Jaxie scooted him from the room and turned to the two sitting on the bed. "Are you ready?"

Both gave a quick nod and slid off the bed, exiting the room in unison. Zephyre went around the house and made sure that no lights were left on and that all doors, hatches, and windows were locked shut. He then made a quick stop next to the front door, opening a hidden panel in the wall. a small keypad lit up and he typed in a security code, letting the panel vanish back into the wall when he was done.

"Hey dad!" Auzie came running down the stairs, trying to fix the top button of her coat. "Should I bring my suit, just in case?"

Zephyre thought for a moment, going over a large list of things that might possibly go wrong. "I wouldn't bring the whole thing, just the gloves. And when you go back upstairs, tell Bryan to pack for a few days."

Auzie looked a little puzzled, but didn't question her father's words and returned upstairs. She skirted around the top railing and halted in front of her brother's room, knocking gently on the door. "Hey, can I come in?"

After a few quiet seconds Bryan gently kicked the door open for his sister, beckoning her inside with a slight jerk of his head. "What's up?" he asked, leaning slightly closer to the mirror he was staring intently into.

"Dad said for you to pack for a few days, but he didn't tell me why, so..." Her voice drifted off to indicate she had nothing more on the subject to offer, which caused her to start rocking on her heels while awaiting a response.

Bryan finished off the two strands of hair that hung by his face and pulled his attention from the mirror to look questioningly towards his sister. "A few days?"

"That's all he said, so I guess hurry up or we'll leave without you," she said pleasantly, smiling warmly at the other before turning on her heels and exiting his room, slightly waving a hand as she passed through the doorway.

The other was left to stare blankly at the empty space where she had stood. "A few days?" he whispered to himself, scrunching his face up in confusion.

* * *

Zim held Noah close while he and Purple stood side by side, watching as their home planet grew larger in the front window of their small transport ship. Noah stared in awe at the beautiful pink hued planet, watching the large metal ring circling the atmosphere with great interest.

"I keep forgetting he's never seen Irk before," Purple whispered, leaning closer to Zim as he folded his arms behind his back in the standard military position.

With a small chuckle the Tallest raised slightly on his toes and replied, "I've only ever shown him pictures, this'll be his first time on the surface."

Purple nodded slowly, a wide smile spreading across his face in amusement. "What do you think he'll make of it?"

At this Zim had to actually stifle a laugh, already confident in knowing what his son's reaction would be. "He'll be disappointed at first, of course. I've never shown him pictures of the surface, and all he has to go off of is Earth. But I think he'll get used to it."

The Elder smiled wider, it was always a joy when he could personally experience someone's first visit to Irk, especially if they were Irken and had never truly experienced their home planet.

The ship slowed considerably and Noah's face lit up with anticipation. The pilot maneuvered them underneath the large metal ring, constantly referring to the external hologram. Once the ship was situated, a large dish swung around and began sending signals towards the ship, waiting for feedback.

"All ready for departure?" the pilot called, twisting slightly in his chair to see the nods of approval. As he was given the signal he beamed the three down to the surface of the planet, watching as they were engulfed in a pink force field and faded from sight.

The sensation of being anatomically beamed from one place to another had been described as the feeling of stomach cramps throughout the whole body accompanied with the common sensation of nausea and dizziness. And on some occasions, especially for first timers, some have experienced pressure on their chest and abdomen.

As the group materialized on the edge of a large round platform Noah fell to his knees and began to dry heave, clutching his midsection as beads of sweat ran down his face and he lurched forward. At first the onlookers and others who had been beamed onto the platform stared in confusion and slight disapproval. However, as they saw not only his eye color, but that the rather tall Irken helping him back to his feet was their Tallest, they quickly averted their eyes and continued to their destinations.

"You alright?" Zim asked, wrapping an arm around the boy's shoulders and resting his opposite hand on his stomach. After receiving an affirming nod he pulled Noah into a quick hug and guided him forward, followed by a slightly snickering Elder.

The platform they had arrived on was outside, encircled by a round building that rose higher than any skyscraper Noah had ever seen. On the ground level, large, elaborate arches were evenly placed around the entire building, leading to places the boy could only dream of.

Standing under the archway they were walking towards was a rather large Irken leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. As they neared him Noah looked over his outfit, it looked pretty standard of the guards his father had running around the Massive. Black base color, red shoulder pads, belt, gloves, and boots. Though, this guy had quite a few little buttons pinned to his overcoat right under his uniquely shaped collar, which rose up to his mouth but flared outwards so that his whole face was visible.

"My Tallest," he said in a low, gruff voice, bending at the waist and placing his right fist over his chest to bow in respect.

Zim and Purple merely bowed their heads, though Zim had to place a hand on Noah's head to make him do the same. He then made a mental note to go over a few customaries while they had some time in their suite later.

"My name is Gor, I'll be escorting you through the duration of your stay. If you would, follow me." The large Irken turned swiftly and led them through the arch, the double set of large guns slung on his back looking quite small compared his massive stature.

Zim looked over at Purple as they followed behind, raising a brow. "Gor?" he whispered quietly. "You two must have run out of names."

At this Purple snickered, and as he nodded his head the other joined in and they quietly giggled at each other. However, once they reached the outside where Noah could fully take in the planet's surface structure, the two leaned forward to watch his reaction.

The boy's smile, which he had had as soon as the nausea had faded, fell instantly into a straight line of disappointment. "You've got to be kidding."

Zim dragged him along behind the guard and kept a firm hand on his shoulder. "It's not that bad, as long as you don't talk to anyone I think you could get used to it!" He made an extra effort to sound enthusiastic, when he himself wasn't all that fond of the planet.

Noah squinted in disapproval. "It smells too clean, I don't see any hint of green anywhere other than people, the color is going to make me go blind, and everyone looks like they've got a rod stuck up their a-!"

"Alright, alright," Zim said, moving his hand to cover his son's mouth. He glared at a particularly masculine looking female who rolled her eyes she walked by, shaking her head with disgust. "Look, just give it some time, you'll like it eventually."

Noah decided from then of he'd keep to himself, deciding to take in the entirety of his surroundings. They must have been smack in the middle of large city, the buildings were mostly continuous rows of plazas, there were elaborate, round skyscrapers ever few miles, the sky was filled with cruisers, basic runners, and what he figured to be police vehicles. Most of what he could see was either pink, purple, or a variation of one or both.

Gor stopped by a glass wall, just on the edge of the road where a short line of other Irkens were standing. In front of the small group of people were four round metal platforms, slightly raised off the ground. Noah looked around, finally letting his gaze drift upwards. As he did medium sized transport runner, a long and oval shaped craft with a slightly rounded dome ceiling, slowed to a hover just above the glass wall.

"**Next Destination: Advisor Committee Buildings Two and Four,**" announced a soft female voice, emanating from the transport runner. Three Irkens, out of the group of seventeen or so, stepped on a platform and waited patiently. As the platforms were activated they began to glow, sending the occupants hovering upwards towards the entrance of the runner.

Noah tugged gently at his father's robes to get his attention. Once Zim had leaned forward the boy spoke, "Is this how you guys always get around?" He then looked up slightly to read the other's expression.

"Not always, but a lot of the time yes, especially if you don't have clearance for flying your own cruiser." Zim remembered very well the day he went in to obtain his clearance for flying his own independent ship, nobody in that office ever forgot him. He then entertained the idea of how many crude stares he'd get if he walked in their office then, even if he was the Tallest.

Purple leaned back over to Zim once he stood back up. "What's the run time for the transports?" he asked, glancing around the lower flight level of the city.

"About two to three minutes per runner, and anywhere between twenty and thirty minutes per destination cycle," the Tallest replied, his eyes also darting around to look for the next transport runner.

"How do you know?" Purple shot back, initially surprised that Zim would know such a trivial thing.

Zim shot an irritated look at the other, "I used to take them to work everyday when I was a drone. Yeah, I had a life before I became the Tallest." His last statement carried itself a little father than he had liked, and everyone in the surrounding group instantly straightened up and clamped their mouths shut. However, they were all looking worriedly at Purple, not Zim.

But before either of them could elaborate on the subject the next runner approached the platforms, "**Next Destination: Galactic Hall 7.**"

"That's us," Zim said, nudging Noah forward. The little group of four, including Gor, took up each of the platforms, leaving everyone else to tilt their heads and twitch their antennae in confusion at the sight of both Zim and, whom they thought was, Almighty Tallest Purple.

The four were raised upwards before too many onlookers got a good view of any of them. Once they stepped on the ship Gor veered them to the right where Irkens who ranked higher than work drones were allowed to reside. Noah sighed inwardly as they stepped through the doorway, the room was empty of anyone else.

As the three took their seats Gor stood obediently by the door, both hands behind his back and his feet apart. Purple, too, sat with a sense of authority, back straight and hands folded in his lap. Zim, however, sank comfortably into his seat, half sprawling out on his section of the long, sectioned bench.

Noah decided to sit on the other side of the small compartment, bringing his knees up to his chest. "How long until we get there?"

Zim rubbed his temples and thought quietly for a moment. "I'd say about fifteen minutes, we'll probably stop a few times along the way. Why?" He sat up a little straighter, brushing a hand down his front to smooth out his robes.

"I'm hungry," the boy stated flatly.

With a small smile he said, "They'll feed us when we get there, trust me." After that he tilted his head back and closed his eyes, letting himself collect all the random little thoughts running through his mind.

The ride was otherwise quiet, Gor didn't make any noise whatsoever, he hardly even moved. Purple sat and twiddled his thumbs most of the time, also going over a few things he'd like to say at the meeting. Noah had taken to resting his head on his arms, hoping to nod off and wake up when they got there. Though, his squeedilyspooch continuously made growling noises and the occasional hiccup.

Just as Noah was about to yell in frustration at his circumstances a loud beep resonated through the small cabin, causing his father to jump in surprise. He watched in slight amusement as the Tallest yanked the pager from his pocket, nearly flinging it across the cabin, juggled it in the air for a second before catching it and leaning forward to check his message.

"Well?" Purple questioned, slightly leaning to his right to peer over Zim's shoulder.

Zim looked at the name, sighing in disappointment. "Just Dib. I'll get back to him when we're done." He scowled and attached the pager to his wrist, fastening it to the fabric of his glove.

For the last five minutes of the trip his pager buzzed, lit up, beeped, and rang almost continuously. He had half a mind to stomp on it if it weren't for the fact that he was half expecting to hear from Niles. But Dib's name was the only one that ever showed up. "I swear, I'll choke him the next time I see him."

The corner of Gor's mouth twitched slightly as he closed his eyes shut. Purple only rolled his eyes and leaned back against his seat, peering through the window behind Noah.

"**Destination: Galactic Hall 7,**" chimed the female voice, just on cue as the runner slowed to a stop.

The Tallest stood and held a hand out for Noah, grabbing him gently by the shoulder. As Gor moved to open the door Purple followed suit and the four joined the exiting crowd, stepping from the runner to a large platform outside.

Noah gasped quietly to himself as he took in the magnificence of the building. The silver platform's moon shape sloped upwards to meet the ground floor of the building. There was a ring of pillars holding up the low, sleek dome of the ceiling, and between each pillar was a set of clear doors, letting out the bright blue light of the inside. The rest of the building was beneath the platform, which curved inwards in a cone shape before it evened out in a thick cylinder, which went all the way down to the surface.

"Impressed yet?" Zim asked, nudging his son forward as they followed the group of people. He snickered as Noah only nodded, completely entranced by the scene.

"Step aside, Tallest coming through!" Gor shouted in a loud, gurgling voice. The massive crowd parted immediately, all heads whipped around to peer at the guard, then over to Purple. As a whole, the mob bowed, their fists over their chest, and greeted, "Almighty Tallest Purple."

Zim's entire being deflated slightly and he frowned. "Yeah okay."

The Elder smiled and waved his hands, encouraging the people to get back to their feet. "At ease, please. We're just passing through, you'll see us shortly."

The crowd got back to their feet and continued bustling forward, keeping a respective distance between themselves and the escorted group, stealing glances at them every so often.

Purple put a hand of Zim's back and smiled. "Sorry, but they'll all figure it out soon enough."

The Tallest's facial expression never wavered, save for the slow, emphasized blink. Though, as they entered the building he relaxed and inhaled the air around him.

The circular room was leveled like an inverted cake, the top was where Irkens walked in, the second was occupied by a crowd all the way around, the third was for sign ins, and from there Irkens migrated to the last floor and disappeared underneath the ledge of the floor above. There was also a rounded island on the bottom floor serving snacks, which was fairly occupied.

"Food!" Noah hollered, nearly jumping head first into the crowd with hunger.

"Ah," his father chastised, pulling the boy back to his side. "We'll eat after we get settled. I promise the food they'll serve us is way better." After he had successfully quieted his son he followed Gor to next level down, through the crowd, and to level after that.

Gor towered over the short counter and peered down at the Irken below him.

"Can I help you?" the drone asked, dressed in a simple black and red uniform with standard black boots and gloves. His collar laid flat around his neck and came together in the front, fastening into the top of his coat. His expression was bored and unhappy, which emphasized the tone in his voice.

The guard presented him with an ID card, stating he was an escort that was allowed full access as well as his group. However, the drone didn't seem too impressed.

"I'm sorry, I'll need to see ID and clearance for the rest of your party, no exceptions," he said, looking up at Gor with his eyes half lidded.

As the guard leaned over to growl at the drone Zim gently moved him aside and pulled an ID card from inside his robes. "Will this do?" He presented the drone with his ID and waited as it was looked over.

"Maybe, if you were actually the Tallest. Aren't you supposed to be in exile?" The drone gave back Zim's card and quirked a brow.

Purple, who could see that the situation would only escalate, stepped around Zim and smiled down at the drone. "Don't worry, they're all with me. Now, which floor is the Tallest's suite?"

Nearly speechless, the drone stuttered out a response. "I a-apologize my T-Tallest, your suite is on the th-third f-floor." Purple shot him a smile and he watched the group walk by, descending to the bottom level of the dome.

The elevator opened to large, plush suite, furnished to comfortably fit four. Gor walked them in and showed them around, pointing out the kitchen, large central living space, and the second level which had a small communications room and four bedrooms. "And that lift-" he pointed to a large glass lift in the corner of the room, facing the stairs to the upper level, "Will take you straight to your balcony for the meeting."

Zim nodded, sending Gor off to his own room a few floors down. Once the guard was gone he turned to Purple, a sour expression on his face. "You know, any bad news about me would travel like an electrical surge. But the moment something good happens everyone decides to ignore it. Why!" He flung his arms up and puffed out his cheeks in anger.

The Elder only smiled back in response, petting the other on the shoulder. "I'll be up in my room if you need me. Now go feed your son before he turns into a hollowed drone." The other two watched as he made his way up the stairs and closed himself away in the room closest to the staircase.

Noah blinked, and then silently headed for the kitchen, sliding open one of the pantries to pull out an armful of junk food. He then joined his father on the large purple couch and looked up at the screen mounted on the wall, watching as the other flipped through the channels. Though he groaned and sunk further into the cushions as Zim stopped on the news channel. "Is this all you ever watch?"

"Nowadays, pretty much. Now hush," he said, waving a hand in Noah's direction to shut him up, then reaching the same hand into the bag of doughnuts sitting in the boy's lap.

"Hey, these are min-" He winced as he felt Zim's hand on the back of his head. "Ow!" He glared and threw a bag of chips at the other, hoping to get the attention away from his powdered food.

As the two watched the news in silence Zim's pager went off once again, but instead of checking the name, the Tallest merely discarded it and ignored the beeping device for the rest of the evening. He failed to noticed that the name was not Dib's.

**Niles: urgent, bad news.**


End file.
